Axel Rudi Pell – Into the Storm
Release Date: January 21, 2014
Highlights: Tower of Lies, Burning Chains, Touching Heaven, Hey Hey My My, Into the Storm
As you all know, I’m a huge fan of Axel Rudi Pell. When his 16th album Into the Storm hit my desk early this year I found myself feeling a bit apprehensive. Why apprehensive? Well, 2012’s Circle of the Oath was a good release but it failed to capture the excitement, energy, and fire that his previous album The Crest did. It didn’t suck by any means but Circle of the Oath just left me feeling a bit “meh.” Like with any great band that we love, we sometimes just need to be ok with the fact that they can’t always nail it.
With Into the Storm, Axel and Co. totally recaptured that fire and not only hit the nail on the head but they drove that nail clear through the fucking board. Into the Storm is the first album to feature new drummer Bobby Rondinelli and that right there is no small potatoes. In my opinion, I’ve never thought that having a new drummer can totally change and remold your sound. Former drummer Mike Terrana had a very overly produced and at times digital sound to his drumming while Rondinelli brings in a much more live and organic sound. Rondinelli’s experience playing with bands like Rainbow and Black Sabbath totally brought about a sound and feel that completes the Axel Rudi Pell band in a way that has been missing for way too long.
I also have to wonder if the addition of Rondinelli is what fueled Pell to create an album of songs that at times was more reminiscent of Rainbow and Deep Purple. Songs like “Burning Chains” and “Touching Heaven” have keyboardist Ferdy Doernberg laying down heavy on the organ putting out a pretty heavy Jon Lord vibe as opposed to the more Dio-esque synthesizer sound that I’m used to hearing Axel’s tunes. These two songs in particular are probably two of my favorite ARP songs to date and I’d love to hear them delve more into that organ sound as I felt that it really worked awesome with Pell’s guitar playing.
The cover of the Neil Young classic “Hey Hey, My My’ was actually really fucking cool. Axel and Co. almost always nail some pretty awesome covers and this one goes down as one my favorites. They took this song and once again transformed it into something unique. I love it when bands do that. The ballad “Changing Times” was pretty much the only miss for me. This wasn’t the best ballad moment that the band has had and definitely had me reaching for the skip button. The album’s closing track “Into the Storm” is a 10 minute masterpiece that sounds like a lost track from Black Sabbath’s Heaven and Hell or Mob Rules album. This song really blew my mind and just may be one of Axel Rudi Pell’s all-time greatest moments. Closing the album with this one gives the album a sense of completeness and I can only imagine what hearing this one live would be like! What a gem of a song.
Into the Storm is a great place for Axel Rudi Pell and Co. to be. It’s a testament that even after 16 albums Pell is still full of fire and full of great ideas. With the addition of Rondinelli Axel and Co. sound like a much more cohesive and consistent unit. While Into the Storm is a truly great album, there’s nothing new or groundbreaking here and that’s perfectly ok. . Axel Rudi Pell has a formula and much like bands like AC/DC and even The Ramones, it’s a formula that works for him and he never steers away from it. It’s a formula that has worked for 16 albums with varying degrees of success and this time around, he knocked it out of the park.
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