Pure Instinct (1996)

Germany's metal ambassadors go after the adult contemporary deutsche mark: Of 11 tracks on Pure Instinct, 9 are ballads. One exception, ''Stone in my Shoe,'' turns a Who riff into a rock-stomp as uplifting and straightforward as any this year, the last thing you'd expect from the Scorpions. But the rest of the album, despite gothic moodiness from some classical violins, is bloated slush. C+

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