Sunday, January 23, 2011

Classic melodic rock CD of the week


By Stephen Kasenda

M.S.G. “MCAULEY SCHENKER GROUP” (1992)
The final album of the duet Robin McAuley and Michael Schenker, which was released in 1992, was the first MSG album I heard. It eventually became my favorite MSG release. This is an album that was packed with lots of commercial edged melodic rock, powerful ballads, huge harmonic background chants, and thrilling solos. And let’s not forget that Jeff Pilson and James Kottak were also strengthening this magical line-up.

"Eve" rolled like an assaulting fireball shot out from Schenker's Gibson Flying-V, creating sparks in the sky with its monstrous chorus. "This Broken Heart" pumped up the tempo with the shaky chorus good for dancing. I also love the giant melodic lines in their ballads, "When I'm Gone", "We Believe In Love", and "This Night Is Gonna Last Forever". "What Happens To Me" could have been a wonderful Scorpions track. MSG smartly put the acoustic and haunting track called "Nightmare" at the end, which cooled off the heat and lets the album fade away.

This record is clearly a winner to all melodic hearts and as they have written the lyric, "love like this will never come again", that's what really happened to me with MSG. Nothing from his old and new catalogue could have ever top this one, a great buy!

Read more of Stephen’s features at MetalMusicArchives.