Album Review — Michael Schenker Fest

Michael Schenker Fest — Revelation

Michael Schenker is back for a second Fest studio record. I find it a little odd that Schenker chose to name this band as Michael Schenker Fest. It’s one thing to name a tour that, but a band? It’s odd. And let’s not get into the album cover. But this is Michael Schenker so we can give the guy a pass. After all, he’s been a main member of three influential bands (Scorpions, UFO and MSG) and is a legendary guitarist.

For the Fest, Schenker has brought together a bunch of his former singers. Again, I understand why you would do that for a tour, but I’m not sure it’s necessary for an album. There are four main singers (Doogie White, Gary Barden, Graham Bonnett and Robin McAuley) but in case that isn’t enough, current Rainbow singer Ronnie Romero sings a song as well for a total of five lead vocalists.

On three of the songs, all four main singers get a crack at lead vocals. As you would expect, it’s a little strange but it does seem each vocalist is most suited to their parts. Each main singer then gets two songs of their own and Romero gets one. There is one instrumental to end the regular version of the record. The deluxe version has three live tracks of classic favorites including a nearly sixteen minute Rock Bottom.

I’m a big fan of the McAuley Schenker Group stuff, and for me, Robin McAuley is a very underrated singer. So his two songs, “Silent Again” and “Lead You Astray”, are the two best tracks here. They both sound similar to the McAuley Schenker stuff and McAuley sounds as good as ever. Both songs are strong, but “Lead You Astray” is especially good. If we would have gotten twelve songs with McAuley we might be talking about one of the better albums of the year.

Graham Bonnett released a solo record recently so he is still on his game. I’m not the biggest fan of his style, but “Still In The Fight” is a decent track.

Romero’s “We Are The Voice” is another good track. Romero sounds like a cross between McAuley and Bonnett.

Other strong tracks include “Sleeping with the Light On”, mostly due to McAuley’s vocals in the chorus. This would have been a really strong with just McAuley, but each vocalist does a decent job on their part. “Old Man” is another decent track featuring all four vocalists, but again, would have been better with just one singer.

I’m not a fan of many albums that feature multiple vocalists. A few bands have pulled it off, but four is a little much. Granted, The Beatles and Kiss pulled it off, but I’d argue both would have been better with just two, but I regress. For me, it’s hard to get into the flow of a record with the vocalist changing each song, and sometimes within the song.

That being said, there are some good songs here. And for longtime Schenker fans, they may enjoy hearing the different eras of the band all on one record. If that’s you, you definitely are going to want to check this record out. I will add the McAuley songs to my McAuley Schenker playlist and move on to the next record.

80 out of 100

Track Listing

1. Rock Steady
2. Under A Blood Red Sky
3. Silent Again
4. Sleeping With the Light On
5. The Beast in the Shadows
6. Behind the Smile
7. Crazy Daze
8. Lead You Astray
9. We Are the Voice
10. Headed For the Sun
11. Old Man
12. Still in the Fight
13. Ascension

*Best Songs