Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The Resurrection is one of solemnity, of earnest reflection, piety, of remembering that some things are eternal and to be seen and heard as gospel, inscribed in the mystic and for the believers, an instruction of on how to be heard forever.

Not that there is any chance of anybody ever forgetting the joy and the sound of one man’s searing guitar, a selection of vocalists performing as if their collective wings were ablaze with the timeless and the gravity defying polish attributed rightly to them, and then the choir in the form of keyboards, bass and drums into which the beauty and depth of Michael Schenker Fest roars into view and in which the Resurrection is a perpetual feast.

A set of musicians and vocalists to which any album would feel the grace of, Gary Barden, Graham Bonnet, Robin Mcauley, Doogie White, Chris Glen, Ted McKenna and Steve Mann join the sense of the supreme in this latest offering from one of the leading exponents of the craft; it is an album in which nothing is ignored and every possibility is taken, an offering which appeals to those who have always followed with keen interest and open arms but to which opens with honesty an avenue for the novice to get involved right from the start.

Resurrection stands with respect in the canon of work by the musician, it is in many ways an album in which the others salute and hold in reverence but also one that is humble enough to acknowledge those who came before as leading the way to this point, a sense of grace, of modesty, but one to whom it is a privilege to hear and feel the incredible warmth shine through.

In tracks such as Take Me To The Church, The Girl With Stars In Her Eyes, the excellent Time Knows When It’s Time, Salvation and the finale of the album in The Last Supper, Michael Schenker Fest continues a life’s times work which has reached out to the masses and been held up, quite rightly as one of hope in a world in which the weary have had no voice. Hope, crunching guitars, deeply passionate vocals and a sound that has very few equals, it is all in the Resurrection and the feast that is Michael Schenker.

Ian D. Hall