Scanner (3) – Scantropolis

Scanner takes a Blue Oyster Cult turn with Lisa Croft on vox

Released in 2002, SCANTROPOLIS is the fourth of currently seven full-length studio albums by ’s Scanner, who’ve been releasing albums since their stellar debut HYPERTRACE in 1988. They’re upbeat power/speed metal with a futuristic/space schtick, somewhat similar to Helloween musically, but they definitely have their own vibe.

Guitarist Axel Julius is the mastermind and so the band is basically Axel and whoever hires-on. That said, singer Efthimios Ioannidis has been with the group for 21 years as of this writing, which is more than just a “hire on.” He’s also arguably the best, most versatile vocalist of the five singers in the group’s history. The only other singer to sing on two albums, like Efthimios Ioannidis, is Leszek Szpigiel (aka The Naked Duke or Haridon Lee), who sang on two Scanner albums (in the mid-90s).

In any case, SCANTROPOLIS is the first and only Scanner opus to feature female vocalist Lisa Croft and is written off by some fans as a more commercially viable experiment. While this is true, I defend the album because Axel & crew needed to do something different at this juncture and it works for me. Lisa was gone the next year, replaced by the aforementioned Efthimios Ioannidis. As such, you can perceive the disk as a one-off, sorta like Priest’s TURBO or Metallica’s ST. ANGER.

While SCANTROPOLIS is different, it’s not that different. Sure, the singer is a woman, but the band has always had high singers. It’s the style of music that has changed the most, coming across as Scanner meets Blue Oyster Cult. If you can roll with that, there are several highlights.

For instance, “Flight of the Eagle” features some memorable heavy riffin’ while opener “Till the Ferryman Dies” is a compelling way to start the opus. The best comparisons to the aforementioned Blue Oyster Cult are “Turn of the Tide,” which includes piano in fitting parts, and the eerie-but-commercial “Always Alien.” The same with the eccentrically anthemic “Engel Brechts” and “Sister Mercy” with its great chorus and crunchy guitar.

This is just a taste. The whole album’s solid from beginning to end as long as you don’t mind the slight change in style.

The ten tracks clock-in at 21 seconds shy of 49 minutes.

GRADE: B+/A-