Customer Reviews

Black Moon Pyramid

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ok, right at the start let's get one thing straight - this is not trendy or groundbreaking metal. This is classic 80's sounding metal with big riffs, big choruses and dazzling guitar solos.

For those unfamilar with Axel's style try to imagine Malmsteen riffs and Malmsteenish (!) guitar solos (fast, melodic, but not as neo-classical). The similarities don't end their with the vocals being provided by a former Malmsteen frontman, the excellent, Jeff Scott Soto.

This is a polished album which has a great production and some fine metal anthems - Oh, and of course the guitar playing is fantastic.

Music like this is the reason that many people, myself included, started listening to metal in the first place. It won't win any awards for originality but it may just remind you how much miss the classical metal of years gone by.

If you want traditional heavy metal you won't find it played any better than this.

The review from Nick is perfect, with only one differece, in my opinion: Pell's albums are much better than Malmsteen's albums (of the nineties, mainly), because Yngwie, with all his astonishing virtuosity and technique, seldom translated them into great and memorable metal / rock songs.
But Pell manages to do it (even without so many originality).

Very good album indeed.

Jeff Scott Soto takes on revolving mike duties here, joining long time Pell associates Volker Krawczak (B) and Jorg Michael (D) and one Julie Greaux on keyboards. And darn it all but of the few Pell discs I own this is in many ways the most mature. Finally a more textured body of music from the man who has finally figured ou that he doesn't have to blather on about how ready to rock he is all the time. And once again pell has co-written most of these tunes. This is particularly important given his regular vocalist changes - ya gotta listen to your vocalist cos he's the one that's gotta sing these tunes. You only have to listen to some Malmsteen albums like Attack! to realise that if your gonna write songs it's a good idea to check you singer can actually sing what your writing.

The fire in the belly of the Pell is still there, the man putting forth a range of committed rockers. However Germanys Rock and Metal Star magazine did pretty much get it right when they summarised a clutch of songs on this album in the following manner;

Hole in the Sky - Rudolph Schenker
Touch the Rainbow - Jimi Hendrix
Serenade of Darkness - Ymgwie Malmsteen
Sphinx' Revenge - Ritchie Blackmore
Silent Angel - Bon Jovi

Which pretty much sums up this very well played but highly unoriginal release. But it is played with conviction and spirit which is what you want from a musician isn't it?

1995's Black Moon Pyramid was the fifth studio album from guitar slinger Axel Rudi Pell, and the third album to feature journeyman vocalist Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Malmsteen).

By this time, the Axel Rudi Pell formula was more or less in place. You were going to get an instrumental introductory track to set the mood, at least one more instrumental song for Pell to show off his considerable technical chops (actually, I think Black Moon Pyramid has more instrumentals than any other Pell album), a 10-minute epic (in this case the awesome title track), and a bunch of songs that sound like they could have been Rainbow or Scorpions tracks. All the while Pell would serve up some major shredding and impeccable melodies, and a first-rate vocalist would belt out some monumentally cheesy lyrics. That's the formula, and that's why I keep buying Axel Rudi Pell albums. I love his brand of melodic metal, even if it is predictable. For my money, nobody does this kind of thing as well as Pell, and that includes Yngwie Malmsteen. It doesn't hurt that I'm also a big fan of anything Soto is involved with.

Black Moon Pyramid is another winner from Axel Rudi Pell. If you're a fan of guitar-heavy melodic metal, and don't need something terribly original, you should check out what Axel Rudi Pell has to offer. This is also a great album for Jeff Scott Soto fans.