Written in the Sand

Written in the Sand is a restart on which Michael Schenker, welcoming a new lineup including Leif Sundin, again pushed his crying guitar to the foreground. Made again under the name “Michael Schenker Group” after the McAuley Schenker Group era, it carefully builds melodic hard rock around his fluid, singing guitar. Riff and lead set each other off, naturally using his guitar-hero character within the songs. The playing with the new members is surprisingly light, not making Schenker’s melancholy melody heavier than needed. Led by the title track “Written in the Sand,” the songs resound with the appeal of his guitar freshly within the mid-1990s air. It is built to win on the goodness of the phrases themselves, rather than relying on flashy style. Its significance lies in how Schenker, who had been searching for a direction for a time, powerfully returns to melodic hard rock, his own origin. It can be heard as a warm restart that moved the MSG name forward again. Letting you reaffirm the appeal of a guitar hero, it is a fulfilling hard-rock work.