Axel Rudi Pell – Diamonds Unlocked II
Release Date: 30th July 2021
Label: Steamhammer/SPV
Pre-Order/Pre-Save
Genre: Rock, Hard Rock.
FFO: Covers
Review By: Snidely Whiplash
HEEEEELLLLLL oooooooooo music fans, it’s Snidely Whiplash back in the metalepidemic.com review hotseat and today you can get your Rudi poo candy ass over here, take this record and shine it up all nice and neat til you see your face in it and shove it straight up your .. oh wait. Sorry. The name just made me think of that good old line from the Attitude era. So, without further ado, here we go!
The album we’re taking a look at today is Axel Rudi Pell’s Diamond Unlocked II. To begin, the only thing Axel wrote on here is the intro, which is an instrumental that “sets up” the album. It’s okay. Just a little guitar thing with some very loose ties to a Yngwie Malmsteen Blackstar kind of vibe. Not bad, but not really anything to write home about. We start with the Rudi Pell version of Sammy Hagar’s There’s Only One Way To Rock. Meh. It sounds just like the original, only with a Vince Neil type of vocal instead of the Sammy Hagar one. Didn’t really hold my attention thanks to the nasal vocals. Sorry, I just can’t stand that kind of voice for very long on some songs. This one is not one of them, and they didn’t do anything special to the song. The next song did much better. They took away that 70s sound from Rainbow’s Lady Of The Lake and made it sound more polished. They didn’t change anything, but they did a good job on it. Hard to beat Dio on any vocals, but they do sound better on this one. There’s a slower version of She’s A Lady that kicks in hard in the middle. Interesting, but the vocals again don’t do it for me on this one.
Overall, everyone plays the instruments just fine. The guitar leads are Rudi Pell’s own take on each one. They’re fine. They don’t blow my skirt up or anything, but I’m not a lead guitar player. The guy is very good, I can say that with confidence. The vocals don’t fit some of the songs for me. The takes on some of the songs are okay, She’s A Lady being the most interesting one of them all. Frog Leap Studios and a bunch of other bands have been really changing the game when you do a cover, so you really have to jump in with both feet and make them unique. In my opinion, you have to put the old version to rest so that everyone remembers your version first, ala Shinedown’s version of Simple Man, or Disturbed and The Sound Of Silence. It’s a tough field.
In my opinion, this is an album full of covers, not remakes. There’s not really any signature on them to show you put any effort into them…She’s A Lady being the exception. This is just a mediocre release to try and keep your name out there during the pandemic. There’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t blame them one bit. This just doesn’t sound like it has any heart to it, and was released as a “someone do something” thought instead of a “Hey, let’s do something fun since we can’t tour” idea. It could have been a LOT better if you had put your own twist on things instead of just redoing most of them. Maybe that’s just my take on it, and worth what you paid for it. 
(2.5 / 5)
