Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Axxis
Label: Phonotraxxx Publishing
Released: 2017
Length: 48:01
Rating: 3.5/5
Axxis are German hard rock veterans who have been at it since 1988. Their 1989 show at Hala Tivoli in Ljubljana is unforgettable: they opened the night for Black Sabbath, and by all accounts that would have been September 27, 1989. At the time, the author of this piece was buried deep in jazz and skipped that epoch-making gig, which is an immense regret today.
So, to the point. Back then Axxis were riding high on the wings of the commercial success charted by their debut »Kingdom of the Night«, which to this day counts as the best-selling hard rock debut (of all time) in the history of German rock music. Axxis had to live in the shadow of that success through all the following years of defying musical trends. The band kept changing, new members came and went, but two names are constants: the unique vocalist Bernhard Weiss and keyboardist Harry Öllers. Why such an intro, when only a few years ago Axxis, going through a stylistic molt, were putting out albums steeped in the generic clichés of power metal?
Axxis simply had to survive on the scene somehow, and that stylistic detour, represented by their albums »Doom Of Destiny« (2007) and »Utopia« (2009), was the guarantee of that survival. Well, times are obviously changing, and nostalgia is gripping Bernhard and company more and more. The flirtation with their roots, the stylistic U-turn (a »reverse gear« move, if you like), was announced three years ago by the album »Kingdom of the Night II«. It came out as a »white« album, meaning the ballad one, and a black one, where the distorted engines roar a lot more radically.
»Retrolution« confirms that turn. Stylistically it’s a more sensibly comparable offering again, even if it sounds a bit »crude« to say Axxis are something between Scorpions and Bonfire rather than anything that smells of power metal. To pull this turn off properly, Axxis had to swap guitarists. Marko Wriedt, who evidently wasn’t too comfortable with the new climate in the band while recording »Kingdom of the Night II«, was replaced for »Retrolution« by Stefan »Stürmer« Weber. »The Attacker« is a superb addition to the band and does his job with real distinction, with his soloing and with white-hot, inventive, well-tuned guitar phrases inside the songs. With his guitar he’s always »in the right place at the right time«. So Axxis sound closer again to the career of their commercially successful era, and if »Kingdom Of the Night II« was the sequel to the cult debut, »Retrolution« is the evolutionarily logical successor to the album »Kingdom of the Night II«. Axxis now pick up the sheen of sonic kinship with old German hard rock outfits like, among others, Jaded Heart, Frontline, Mad Max and Casanova, while holding on to their default song formatting, which communes with elements of power metal. So they shoe the rhythmic structures with the occasional double kick, of course, and the riffs pick up a power metal character. As a result, thanks to the melodic catchiness developing in such moments, they also drift toward the likes of Edguy (the less lucid side) and certain points in the career of Gamma Ray. All in all, this means that with the transformation Axxis kept the distinctiveness of their own musical identity and soaked it in fashionable production tricks.
This is an album of successful transformation and a return to the roots. A modern-sounding hard rock album of highly catchy musical value, with power metal elements that are heavily tucked away this time, but still noticeable. Weiss stays vocally well preserved and fresh, and the songs successfully build moments of pomp theater and bombast. The production stays typically German, with the guitars firmly pushed to the front of the sound picture. Sharp and honed. It’s an album of virtuously formatted songs with no arrangement slip-ups, but also with a thankless, noticeable note of »overplayed« messaging and a today-grating, downright idiotic element that shows up in the song Heavy Metal Brother. Otherwise, a nice, credible-sounding album with songs that will slot superbly into upcoming shows alongside the band’s cult classics from the early part of their career. The transformation has fully succeeded, and that was the basic purpose of today’s Axxis anyway.
Lineup
Bernhard Weiß – vocals
Harry Oellers – keyboards
Stefan Weber – guitar
Rob Schomaker – bass
Dirk Brand – drums
Production
Bernhard Weiss
Tracklist
01. Burn! Burn! Burn!
02. All my friends are liars
03. Dream Chaser
04. Burn down your house
05. Rock the night
06. The world is mine
07. Do it better
08. Queen of the wind
09. Seven Devils
10. This is my day
11. Somebody died at the party
12. Heavy Metal Brother
13. Welcome to my nightmare (Bonustrack)
14. Demons dare to stay
