Description
Double album on black vinyls with gatefold cover and the entire album on cd as bonus. Limited to 1000 copies
Axel Rudi Pell is a longstanding German metal band playing in the classic 80s style of Dio and other similar bands, with excellent guitar work courtesy of the band’s core and founder, Axel Rudi Pell. They’ve apparently had a very long string of line-up changes, with about four or five different vocalists, before settling on their current one, Johnny Gioeli. It was on this album that he made his debut in the band, and what an album it is. The album starts off with a short intro piece before kicking off into the high-speed double bass cooker “Pay the Price.” It’s a standard Power Metal song, with an extremely catchy chorus. Not much to say, but it’s a good song. Not great, but it does well to open the album and introduce us to the band. Next up is the 8 minute “Carousel”, one of the best songs on the album. It’s midpaced, with a shockingly simplistic riff and a catchy chorus. Most bands would end a song like this after maybe 4 minutes, but ARP lets the music play, showing their considerable musical talents and creating long songs that never bore you, if you’re into this style of music. “Carousel” is a perfect example; sailing on for 8 whole minutes, rocking the whole way with such simple riffs and musicianship, but never becoming dull or trite. “Ashes from the Oath” is another album highlight, starting off as a moody ballad, showing off Gioeli’s considerable vocal talents for a good 4 or 5 minutes and delivering some killer lyrics and guitarwork, before speeding up to a huge hurricane of speedy riffs and blazing solos in the last half of the song. “Ride the Rainbow” is the shortest song here, a catchy little rocker with a great chorus and explosive soloing. “The Gates of the Seven Seals” is a great song, coming in at almost 11 minutes. The riff that carries throughout the song is again very simple, yet great. The chorus is extremely catchy, and the whole thing just bleeds ‘epicness.’ This song revokes the great 80s metal bands again, in a tour de force of spectacular guitar and drumwork. Check it out if you enjoy metal at least a little bit. “Oceans of Time” is the last truly great song here, one of the best ballads I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. The solo is, again, incredible, and this beautiful piece of music goes on for 7 minutes before coming to an end, like the tides on the beach at sunset. “Prelude to the Moon” is where things start to dip off into mediocrity. It’s a neoclassical sounding instrumental, with only the guitars and keyboards throughout its 5 minute duration. It’s not a bad song at all, but it doesn’t meet the standards of tracks 3-7. “Living on the Wildside” is a filler, with nothing to make it really stand out. Same goes for “Holy Creatures”, although that song does have a rather odd little outro that’s creepier that humorous. Overall, this is a great album from a very good band. It could benefit from re-arranging the track list, though, and not having three mediocre songs right next to each other at the end. “Ashes from the Oath” or the title track would’ve been a fitting end to the album, and they could’ve mixed up the good songs with the so-so ones. Just a small mistake, and it doesn’t ruin the great songs here so in the end its a highly recommended album
LP tracklist:
1. Slaves Of The Twilight (Intro)
2. Pay The Price
3. Carousel
4. Ashes From The Oath
5. Ride The Rainbow
6. The Gates Of The Seven Seals
7. Oceans Of Time
8. Prelude To The Moon
9. Living On The Wildside
10. Holy Creatures
CD tracklist:
1. Slaves Of The Twilight (Intro)
2. Pay The Price
3. Carousel
4. Ashes From The Oath
5. Ride The Rainbow
6. The Gates Of The Seven Seals
7. Oceans Of Time
8. Prelude To The Moon
9. Living On The Wildside
10. Holy Creatures