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› Axel Rudi Pell – Diamonds Unlocked
SPV Steamhammer Records – 1/10/2007
As you may have noticed from commentary on my columns or on the forums, over the past year I’ve become a pretty big fan of Axel Rudi Pell. Since Bloodstock Indoor 2006 I’ve been rocking out to his anthems, moved by the power ballads and captivated by the man’s precision guitar work. So, when offered this new album to review, I jumped at the chance. Just try not to misconstrue all of this as a case of fanboy-itis!
Essentially, “Diamonds Unlocked” is a bit of a stop-gap between original studio albums which the Pellster is releasing impressively regularly at this stage of his career. He’s done a good job though in slightly re-working some classic rock songs into his own style, and sprinkled his patented fairy dust over the top to make it a convincingly good album. A point worth mentioning is that included on the album is a fresh look at Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight”, which would be epic enough…but you realise it’s the song from the Cadbury’s advert with the drumming gorilla! No doubt a coincidence but something that must make the album more enjoyable to listen to, and used well could prove to make this album more successful, as the band deserve after one of the most under-rated careers in rock.
If you own any other Axel Rudi Pell albums, frankly you know what you’ll be getting. As expected the standout tracks are the covers of Riot’s “Warrior”, U2’s “Beautiful Day”(the first two proper songs on the album) and “In The Air Tonight”. People may call for more progression in albums, but when there’s consistency of such a high level, do you really need to tinker with something a hardcore of fans love so much? For me, after progressing backwards throughout the albums for a year, it’s good to hear something new with that edge we got on 2006’s “Mystica”, and hopefully this will be the album to win over fans of the bands covered on this CD, and release Axel Rudi Pell to a greater audience.
8/10
Harry
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