Scorpions - The Good Die Young [Single] (2010)

Tracklist:
1. The Good Die Young (radio edit)
2. The Good Die Young (album version)









Preview of the Sting – 7,5/10

The Scorpions have decided to release “The Good Die Young” as the first promotional single from their upcoming farewell album. A single usually is to promote the album it is from. The question is: does this single do its job well?

The song is a power ballad. It sounds like trademark Scorpions, and at the same time it doesn’t. It starts off with gentle arpeggiated chords, accompanied with some guitar leads. Then the drums kick in to form a steady rhythm on which the verse flows. It seems the lyrics of this song are about war and about young soldiers needing to come back. Then the chorus kicks in and there is the recognizable Scorps sound. It’s a heavy chorus with some solid riffing and some epic melodies. It’s closed by some more guitar leads, and then goes back to the arpeggiated chords of the beginning. This repeats itself three times before the song comes to a close after five minutes. The radio edit that’s also present just removes a repeat.

I must say vocalist Klaus Meine sounds like himself on the choruses, but tends to sound like Axl Rose or Serj Tankian in the verses. He uses his lower range and goes through the lyrics rapidly, leaving a nu-metal-ish impression. And there at the background of the verses we have guest vocalist Tarja Turunen making some opera-esque harmonies. Surely, she adds something great to the song, but nothing that would not have been possible to be replaced by keyboards. It probably would’ve been a better cooperation with a full duet between her and Klaus. Overall, I think the song does a good job. It has energy, a mid-paced groove and a very memorable chorus. The only thing that it lacks is a good guitar solo. What happened there? The Scorpions were always known for their striking solos, but nowadays they seem to be lacking. Ah well, apart from that, it’s a good song.

In the end, I think this single does the job. It might not be the classic Scorpions sound, but it certainly is a good song, and the boys did a good job. I’m looking forward to Sting in the Tail even more now I know there’s at least one good song on it. Hopefully the other songs do have solos though, it really adds a lot.