Humanity: Hour I

Humanity: Hour I is the sixteenth album on which Scorpions step into a more modern, shadowed sound while keeping heavy riffs and big melody. Over hard-edged beats, Klaus Meine’s voice creates vivid drama, turning anxiety about civilization and humanity into a grand musical story. From the tension of “Hour I” and the drive of “The Game of Life” to the lift of “We Were Born to Fly” and the lyricism of “The Future Never Dies,” the songs carry wide-ranging faces in line with the concept, and the scale of the closing title track “Humanity” symbolizes the theme running through the whole album. It is ambitious in adding a clear 2000s outline rather than merely reproducing the old style. Through a near-future theme and refined production, a long-running band greatly updates its sense of the times. Big melody and a modern sonic picture join without friction, showing new possibilities for Scorpions. Proving that veterans do not fear a challenge, it is an engaging concept record.