Review: Michael Schenker Group – Don’t Sell Your Soul
Michael Schenker Group – Don’t Sell Your Soul
Format: CD – Vinyl LP – Digital / Label: earMUSIC
Release: 2025
Text: Martien Koolen
‘Don’t Sell Your Soul’ is the second part of the trilogy that started with My Years With UFO in 2024 and after a couple of spins I can honestly say that this new Schenker album is a 100% disappointment. Mediocre, poppy sounding tracks with melodies, riffs, and choruses we have heard zillion times before, and the only thing worth mentioning are a couple of excellent, typical Michael Schenker guitar solos, displaying his undisputed talent as a wonderful guitar picker indeed.
Don’t Sell Your Soul was recorded with Schenker’s long-time allies; namely: Bodo Schopf (drums), Barend Courbois (bass guitar) and Steve Mann. Erik Gronwall sings most of the songs, but Michael Voss and Robin McAuley also deliver some vocal parts. Voss sings Sign Of The Times, a rather mediocre groovy track, while McAuley delivers the vocals for Six String Shotgun and Eye Of The Storm, both being standard straightforward tempo rockers with nice guitar picking from Schenker of course.
Janey The Fox almost sounds like an unfinished track, while Surrender is dominated by the double bass drums and The Chosen One lacks a chorus and even a decent guitar solo!
The vocal performance of Gronwall is also rather dull and not really innovative, while the tracks with his vocals like Flesh And Bone or the title track also sound so familiar, read boring/dull….
Last but not least the cover of this new MSG album is truly one of the worst I have ever seen, but it is the music that should do the talking, sadly I am not quite charmed or convinced about Schenker’s new album indeed. So, my advice would be spend your money on an old UFO album!!
Tracks:
01. Don t Sell Your Soul
02. Danger Zone
03. Eye Of The Storm
04. Janey The Fox
05. Can’t Stand Waiting
06. Sign Of The Times
07. The Chosen One
08. It’s You
09. Sixstring Shotgun
10. Flesh & Bone
11. Surrender
Website: https://michaelschenkerhimself.com/