The Michael Schenker Group

The Michael Schenker Group is a vivid debut released by the genius guitarist Michael Schenker, known for his work in UFO and the Scorpions, under his own name. Around his fluid, endlessly emotional guitar, powerful, hard-edged hard rock is built. Gary Barden’s straight, soaring singing and the steady rhythm section’s drive make Schenker’s guitar melody resound powerfully as the core of the songs, not mere soloing. The sharp bite of the classic opener “Armed and Ready,” the lift of “Cry for the Nations” and the classic instrumental “Into the Arena,” concentrating his guitar expression, show off Schenker’s rare talent in three dimensions, while cuts like “Victim of Illusion” and “Lost Horizons” heighten the work’s appeal. Its power lies in how his guitar functions as a beautiful main melody guiding the emotion of the singing, not merely to show high technique. The flow from hard riffs to fluid phrases is truly natural, and the solos, never jumping outside the songs, deftly open the next development. A debut on which melody and playing are firmly bound at the same intensity, it is a radiant starting point of 1980s hard rock.