Axel Rudi Pell - Risen Symbol

Angry Metal Guy

Axel Rudi Pell has been around for a long time—longer than I’ve been alive, truthfully. As the eponymous band of German guitarist Axel Rudi Pell, who broke off from the Deutschland-nested Steeler way back in the 80s,¹ Axel Rudi Pell has since released album after album of crunchy-riffed, flamboyantly-soloed, chorus-led heavy metal. Embracing both the neoclassical in lead and classic arena rock in power chord progressions, ARP has innovated little and iterated less for each of the now twenty-two albums of no-cover-charge good(ish) times.

ARP’s christening lineups boasted various powerhouse vocalists like Rob Rock (Impellitteri) and Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, Trans-Siberian Orchestra), aiding the foundation on which ARP coasted. And to their credit, the albums from that era hold up pretty well as sometimes-Scorpions, sometimes-Rainbow, always-less-than-Fifth Angel slabs of flashy heavy metal with too many ballads but just enough power to make it through. Of course, Mr. Pell hasn’t gone anywhere, along with his long-time bassist Volker Krawczak (ex-Steeler). And since ’98, he’s been ridin’ steady with the golden pipes of Johnny Gioeli (Crush 40,² Enemy Eyes) and the gently harmonizing keys of Ferdy Doernberg (Rough Silk). If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Risen Symbol by Axel Rudi Pell

It turns out, though, that if you continue to release the same kind of album with the same people through the same lens of influence, then the experience begins to wear out quickly. Risen Symbol busts its energy in the unwelcome foreplay of “The Resurrection (Intro)” into the mildly invigorated “Forever Strong.” Maybe you’ve never encountered ARP before, so you’ve probably never heard them play these riffs with these chorus progressions (and in “Guardian Angel” and in “Hell’s On Fire” and in “Right on Track”… you get it, right?)—but if you look, you don’t have to search far. And though ARP has, to date, six³ collections of ballads—most of which are covers—and two full-length releases dedicated to covers, there persists an ARPian for more covers. So we get an ambiguously MENA-mooded cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.” Bet ya never heard that either.⁴

In addition to lacking diversity, Risen Symbol shows the cracks of aging ideals against a production style that attempts to bolster it. It would take a miracle for Gioeli to sound the way he did when he landed with ARP over twenty-five years ago. And since those kinds of acts are in short supply, his vocals find pumped volume pockets with extra mic distortion as a grit substitute (most egregiously while trying to Plant it up in “Immigrant Song”). While this kind of all-fists-pumping rock does not require a heavily trained voice, Gioeli has carried similar tunes better before, or at least less noticeably pitchy when he sat with less volume in the mix. Pell himself too fires on fewer cylinders, it seems. ARP has never been as shredtastic as visually similar acts like At Vance or Impellitteri, but drawing heavy inspiration from legends like Blackmore and Hendrix, Pell’s leads typically soar. But in most of Risen Symbol’s run, he mulls about in a flimsy-toned rhythm, and solo spots sputter (loudly) about as lazy melodic accouterment by his own past standards.

The world needs neither another vapid ballad (“Crying in Pain”) nor another desert adventure song lesser than Rainbow’s “Gates of Babylon” (“Ankhaia”). And up until the fake-out driving epic that closes Risen Symbol, the world didn’t really need more Axel Rudi Pell—certainly not a whole hour no matter how you slice it. I don’t know Pell’s full story, but I’m sure he came to be in a manner similar to how many become engrossed by rock and metal: he fell in love with the sound of a screeching guitar. That love shines through in his best works, and while he feels its throb enough to conjure more full-length collections, I don’t hear it resonating quite that way any longer. Never boundary-pushing enough to set a global audience ablaze, never sloggish enough to catch a whiff of public infamy, Axel Rudi Pell carries on in the local touring zone of “too good to crash and burn.” However, Risen Symbol inches this marathon-marked vanguard that much closer to a sparkless fade-out.

Rating: 1.5/5.0
DR: Somebody Call Me a… | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: SPV/Steamhammer | Bandcamp
Websites: axel-rudi-pell.de | axelrudipell.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/axelrudipellofficial
Releases Worldwide: June 14th, 2024

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