Sharks

Sharks

<i>Sharks</i> comes two decades after UFO's last meaningful hit, at a time when you'd think UFO would call it a day and raise a glass to the late '70s, when <i>Lights Out</i> and <i>Obsession</i> were huge and <i>Strangers in the Night</i> was being heralded as a landmark live album. But rock & roll junkies to a man, they simply cannot let it lie. And thank goodness for that, because <i>Sharks</i> is far from the pub-metal indulgence one might expect. Reuniting stalwarts Phil Mogg and Pete Way with old cohort Michael Schenker, as well as drum wizard Aynsley Dunbar, the album is witty, unruly, and possessed of a renegade spirit sorely lacking in most nu-metallers (a point raised by Mogg during "Someone's Gonna Have to Pay"). "Fighting Man" is a hard-stomping blues-rock, "Dead Man Walking" recalls Van Halen's take on "You Really Got Me," while "Outlaw Man" is a history-minded self-justification, complete with Schenker pyrotechnics and hilariously brazen lyrics ("I'm a rocker / I'm one big bone"). Best of all, though, is "Serenity." With its verses like an Old Testament rant and a beautiful chorus, it ranks with UFO's best work. <i>--Dominic Wills</i>