Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Pell, Axel Rudi
Label: SPV Records
Release: 2016
Length: 64:11
Rating: 4/5
Sometimes things slip past us. Especially with Axel Rudi Pell, who drops a new album every two years and squeezes in the odd compilation or live record in between. Basically, too much, which makes it tough to keep up with his hyperactivity. Seeing as the new studio album »Knights Call« officially came out today, that’s probably as good an alibi as any to say a few words about its predecessor »Game Of Sins«, which quietly wriggled out of our reviewers’ grip two years ago, right after it was released.
Axel Rudi Pell’s seventeenth studio album, »Game Of Sins«, from the German wizard of epic, bombastic classic metal and hard rock songwriting, is, as always, a typical Axel album. Ever since 1989, when he went solo (before that he spent five years in Steeler), he hasn’t left even the tiniest spark of hope for a change of musical style. He stays true to his sound.
He keeps paddling around in waters where he feels comfortable and safe, and for the last twenty years and more his albums haven’t delivered any earth-shaking jolts that would hint at a craving for musical adventure or stylistic evolution. It’s the second album with a stable lineup again, after legendary drummer Boboy Rondinelli (Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Blue Oyster Cult) replaced Mike Terrana in 2013. No beating around the bush, Rondinelli is a perfect pickup for Pell, if only because he’s nowhere near as moody as the unpredictable Terrana. The rest of the crew have been backing Pell since the mid-nineties or so. A proven team that never lets you down.
Hence, once again, yet another ultra-melodic, dangerously catchy album that could have been written and recorded right after »Oceans of Time«. The question is whether the author of this review can even write two different reviews of any two Axel Rudi Pell albums. In short, no creative lightning bolts, just a recipe that has a proven track record. Production included. Punchy, guitar-driven and hugely dynamic, in other words lively, pulsing and breathing.
The album is highly bombastic, soaked in the virtuous mood of proper drama theater, and Axel Rudi Pell once again shines with his unsuspected guitar masterpieces, following the path of Blackmore’s pioneering work like he always has. Once more it’s a mix of fast-paced tracks charged with high-octane voltage and mid-tempo, »sharpened« mini epic suites, and of course there’s room for a new ballad too, because Pell has to gather enough material for the next ballads compilation sooner or later. By the looks of it, he’s slowly closing in on part six.
Fans of this guitarist and his musical doctrine bought this album right away. The rest of you, who know the early era, or let’s say at least his nineties output, aren’t missing out on anything, even though Pell has long since developed and worked out the formula by which he builds every album concept down to the last detail. Pure perfectionism. Johnny Gioeli’s trademark vocals »kill« once again, while Axell Rudi Pell, with his renewed perfectionism and guitar wizardry, simply confirms what a polished and skillful composer and virtuoso this worthy herald remains. And by the looks of it, none of that is going to change one bit.
Tacked onto the tail end of the album is Hendrix’s (ugh, pardon, Dylan’s) All Along The Watchtower, spiced up with that signature ARP arranging flavor, which will probably interest Axel’s countryman Uli Jon Roth the most.
Lineup
Johnny Gioeli – vocals, backing vocals
Axel Rudi Pell – all guitars
Ferdy Doernberg – keyboards
Volker Krawczak – bass
Bobby Rondinelli – drums
Production
Axel Rudi Pell
Tracklist
1. Lenta Fortuna (Intro)
2. Fire 3. Sons In The Night
4. Game Of Sins
5. Falling Star
6. Lost In Love
7. The King Of Fools
8. Till The World Says Goodbye
9. Breaking The Rules
10. Forever Free
11. All Along The Watchtower
