Taken by Force

Taken by Force is the fifth album on which Scorpions pursue hard rock’s sharpness and more dramatic melody at once. Uli Jon Roth’s guitar flies freely with a classical sense, and Klaus Meine’s singing gives the songs heat and melancholy. The drive of the opener “Steamrock Fever,” the large swells of “We’ll Burn the Sky” and the tension of “The Sails of Charon” strongly shape the album’s appeal, while the drive of “He’s a Woman – She’s a Man” and the lyricism of “Born to Touch Your Feelings” give the songs breadth. The union of aggression and melody is realized at a higher level than before. Falling at the end of the Uli Jon Roth era, the record is a transitional work carrying both the early experimental spirit and elements leading toward the melodic hard rock to come. The expressive height the band reached just before its worldwide leap is clearly inscribed — a fulfilling hard-rock record that fittingly caps early Scorpions.