Axel Rudi Pell
The Ballads IV
Rating
Style: Soft Hard Rock
Release date: 26 September, 2011
Playing time: 75:06
 

Ok, so where do I start with this one then? On one hand I do like Axel Rudi Pell, but then on the other hand is there any need for "YET" another Ballad album? This being the fourth ballads album by Mr Pell. I have played this album a number of times now to get a good grasp on it & waiting to find something positive to write about it, but I just can't and that sadness me. The only good point about this rather bland album is the vocals of Johnny Gioeli, the best I have heard him sing but still not enough to save this album.

On the Ballads IV we get served up 5 cover songs (Holy Diver, Hallelujah, Love Gun, In the Air Tonight (WTF) & Like a Child Again) & 2 Instrumentals. This is where my main problem lays with this album. Again WHY do we need this??..One of the songs Axel Rudi Pell thought might sound good as a fucking ballad is Holy Diver by Dio. Blasphemy!!!! That is a killer metal song and does not need to be subjected this treatment. You don't mess with the King's songs \m/. Love Gun just blows, shocking version. And WTF?? Phil Collins, In the Air Tonight. Come on guys you couldn't find anything else then this. The drum machine programming in this song is bad bad bad. The only decent cover song is Hallelujah.

The other 6 tracks you can find on Axel Rudi Pell's back catalogue, again I say WHY??. This album will just hopefully fall away into the past and never return. That's where it belongs, honestly. This is a serious candidate for worst album of the year. And that is very hard for me to say.


Tracklist
1. Where the Wild Waters Flow
02. Holy Diver [Dio cover]
03. Hallelujah [Leonard Cohen cover]
04. Northern Lights
05. Noblesse Oblige (Opus #5 Adagio Contabile)
06. Love Gun [Kiss cover]
07. Glory Night
08. In the Air Tonight [Phil Collins cover]
09. Touching My Soul
10. Like a Child Again [The Mission cover]
11. No Chance To Live
12. Haunted Castle Serenade (Opus #4 Grazioso E Agresso)
13. The Curse of the Damned
Label: SPV/Steamhammer
Distribution: Playground Music (Scandinavia)
Reviewed by: Tye Brown
Date: 18 September, 2011
Website: www.axelrudipell.de