In Trance / Virgin Killer [Import]

Musically, it's essential guitar rock with Uli's incredible lead work and Rudolph Schenker's perfect riffing. Lyrically, it's only average, but Klaus's voice is excellent and oh so earnest. I like their commercial music from the '80's pretty well too. But there's a certain magic about the Uli Roth era that can't be denied.

The other version, on the "Phantom" label is also sold on Amazon. I actually ordered under than link from a third party seller and got the Axekiller version. They may or may not be the same. I can't say. But I'm certainly not complaining. I got three of The Scorpions best releases for under the price of two! These albums are hard to buy at reasonable prices so here's your chance!

Although it may be hard to believe, the Scorpions had already been together for ten years when they released their third album, In Trance, in 1975. Their first two albums, Lonesome Crow and Fly To The Rainbow, while excellent, also demonstrated that the band had some serious room to improve their music. They say that a band's third album will either make or break its respective artist. If that statement's true, which end holds true for the Scorpions? Read on for my reviews of In Trance, and its 1976 follow-up, the critically-acclaimed Virgin Killer - Combined on a single CD!

First up, we have 1975's In Trance. The band kicks off the album with Dark Lady, one of the finest rockers they have ever recorded in their entire career. This track fuses elements of Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, and Judas Priest alike, making for a track that is impossible not to love if you're a fan of classic metal. Up next, we have the title track. The emphasis in this one is heavy on the vocals, and it beautifully demonstrates a point - Klaus Meine, the band's lead vocalist, has finally found his voice. The band even tries their hand at some slower-style tracks with Life's Like A River and Living And Dying, and they succeed beautifully. Top Of The Bill is a rocker that is strangely reminiscent of Van Halen's Everybody Wants Some, but is still an excellent rocker. Through the course of the album, the band serves up a variety of excellent tracks, and all the while Ulrich John Roth shows that he is a guitar god that never got the proper credit. Classic metal albums don't get a whole lot better than this. My final rating for In Trance is four and half stars out of five.

1976's Virgin Killer comes next, and one thing's for sure. This album more than deserves the title of "LP Of The Year", which it earned in the band's native Germany. This is one of the greatest Scorpions albums of all, if not the overall best. Ulrich Jon Roth's guitar playing on Fly To The Rainbow and In Trance were great, but on this album he completely blows away everything he has done in the past. In addition, the guitar virtuoso who helped to get the band started, Michael Schenker, takes a break from UFO and helps the band out on a few of the tracks featured here. The band kicks the album off with Pictured Life, a classic hard and heavy power rocker. It's hard for me to choose a favorite Scorpions song since so many of them are so great, but if I had to choose a favorite, this just might be the one. Following this track you will learn instantly that this is the band's fastest and most furious album of all. Two-thirds of the album is made up of hard and heavy rockers that are unbeatable in the quality department. Among these are Catch Your Train, Backstage Queen, and the title track. There are even three power ballads on here, all of which are excellent and well ahead of their time - In Your Park, Crying Days, and Yellow Raven. Two of the album's faster and heavier tracks, Hell Cat and Polar Nights, feature vocals that are wildly different from any other tracks on this or any Scorpions album - another member of the band must be doing the vocals one these tracks. All in all, these are some of the band's best tracks ever recorded.

These are two of the finest Scorpions albums of all, and the fact that you can get them together on a single disc makes them all the more worthwhile. The Ulrich Jon Roth era of the Scorpions is sorely underrared, when in actuality, it was the band's finest era! If you want to hear the band in their prime, get this package.