Face the Heat

Face the Heat
Studio album by Scorpions
Released	21 September 1993
Studio	Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Genre	Hard rock heavy metal
Length	52:04
Label	Mercury
Producer	Bruce Fairbairn Scorpions
Scorpions chronology
Crazy World (1990) Face the Heat (1993) Pure Instinct (1996)
Singles from Face The Heat
"Alien Nation" Released: 1993 "Woman" Released: 1993 "Under the Same Sun" Released: November 1993 "No Pain No Gain" Released: 1994

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	4/10 [2]
Metal Hammer (GER)	6/7 [3]
Rock Hard	8.0/10 [4]

Face the Heat is the twelfth studio album released by the German hard rock band Scorpions in 1993.

It was produced by the band and the late Bruce Fairbairn and released on the Mercury label. This album marked their status as a sort of political band with the song "Alien Nation", which was about the re-unification of Germany.^{[ citation needed ]} This album had a contemporary touch to it, as the band were then going with the current trends, before later returning to their original style in Unbreakable in 2004. This is the last album to feature drummer Herman Rarebell, and the first with Ralph Rieckermann on bass guitar replacing Francis Buchholz. It is also the band's final album to be released on Mercury.

"Under the Same Sun" was played during the ending credits of the 1994 film On Deadly Ground .

"Alien Nation" was covered by the Italian heavy metal band Mastercastle, recorded by Pier Gonella at MusicArt Studios and released as Japanese bonus track of their album The Phoenix .

"No Pain, No Gain" was one of the songs of the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

"Lonely Nights" was later included in the 2017 compilation album Born to Touch Your Feelings: Best of Rock Ballads .

Track listing

All tracks are written by Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine except where noted

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Alien Nation"		5:44
2.	"No Pain No Gain"	Schenker, Meine, Mark Hudson	3:55
3.	"Someone to Touch"	Schenker, Meine, Hudson	4:28
4.	"Under the Same Sun"	Hudson, Meine, Bruce Fairbairn	4:52
5.	"Unholy Alliance"		5:16
6.	"Woman"		5:56
7.	"Hate to Be Nice"		3:30
8.	"Taxman Woman"		4:30
9.	"Ship of Fools"		4:15
10.	"Nightmare Avenue"	Matthias Jabs, Meine, Hudson	3:54
11.	"Lonely Nights"		4:50

Japanese edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Kami O Shin Jiru[ sic ]"	3:49
13.	"Daddy's Girl"	4:18

European edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Destin"	3:17
13.	"Daddy's Girl"	4:18

US edition hidden track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame" (Elvis Presley cover)	Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman	2:27

Face the Heat single-only tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Rubber Fucker" (from the "Alien Nation" maxi-single)	Herman Rarebell	3:39
2.	"Partners in Crime" (from the "Under the Same Sun" maxi-single)		4:24

Personnel

Scorpions

• Klaus Meine – lead vocals, backing vocals, arrangements on "Woman"
• Rudolf Schenker – rhythm guitar, lead guitar, sitar, EBow, backing vocals
• Matthias Jabs – lead guitar, rhythm guitar, talk box
• Herman Rarebell – drums, percussion
• Ralph Rieckermann – bass

Additional musicians

• John Webster – keyboards
• Luke Herzog – additional keyboards on "Woman" and "Lonely Nights", arrangements on "Woman"
• Helen Donath – opera voice on "Ship of Fools"
• Rhian Gittins – girl's voice on "Nightmare Avenue"
• Paul Laine, Mark LaFrance – backing vocals
• Bruce Fairbairn, Mark Hudson – backing vocals on "Under the Same Sun"

Production

• Bruce Fairbairn – producer, arrangements with Scorpions
• Erwin Musper – engineer, mixing at Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, Netherlands
• Mike Plotnikoff – engineer
• George Marino – mastering at Sterling Sound, New York
• Hubert Kretzschmar – cover photography

Charts

Chart (1993)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [5]	12
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [6]	34
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [7]	34
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) [8]	8
French Albums (SNEP) [9]	5
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [10]	4
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) [11]	11
Italian Albums ( Musica e Dischi ) [12]	22
Japanese Albums (Oricon) [13]	29
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [14]	4
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [15]	15
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [16]	9
UK Albums (OCC) [17]	51
US Billboard 200 [18]	24

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
France (SNEP) [19]	Gold	100,000*
Germany	—	350,000 [20]
Norway (IFPI Norway) [21]	Gold	25,000*
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland) [22]	Gold	25,000^
United States	—	450,000 [20]
Summaries
Worldwide	—	1,500,000 [20]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Weber, Barry. "Scorpions Face the Heat review". AllMusic . Rovi Corporation . Retrieved 25 November 2012.
2. Popoff, Martin (1 August 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 387. ISBN   978-1-894959-62-9.
3. Scöwe, Andreas (October 1993). "Scorpions – Face the Heat". Metal Hammer (in German). Retrieved 20 June 2017.
4. Kupfer, Thomas (1993). "Review Album: Scorpions - Face the Heat". Rock Hard (in German). No. 77. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
5. "Austriancharts.at – Scorpions – Face the Heat" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
6. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 2276". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
7. "Dutchcharts.nl – Scorpions – Face the Heat" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
8. Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN   978-951-1-21053-5.
9. "Le Détail des Albums de chaque Artiste – S". Infodisc.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2024.Select Scorpions from the menu, then press OK.
10. "Offiziellecharts.de – Scorpions – Face the Heat" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
11. "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 1993. 37. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
12. "Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 25 March 2024. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Scorpions".
13. Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN   4-87131-077-9.
14. "Norwegiancharts.com – Scorpions – Face the Heat". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
15. "Swedishcharts.com – Scorpions – Face the Heat". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
16. "Swisscharts.com – Scorpions – Face the Heat". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
17. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
18. "Scorpions Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
19. "French album certifications – Scorpions – Face the Heat" (in French). InfoDisc. Retrieved 24 November 2021.Select SCORPIONS and click OK. 
20. "World Music Awards - Scorpions" (PDF). Billboard . Vol. 106, no. 23. 4 June 1994. p. 73. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved 21 March 2022.
21. "IFPI Norsk platebransje Trofeer 1993–2011" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
22. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('Face the Heat')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 May 2019.