{"id":7811,"date":"2011-09-26T07:00:18","date_gmt":"2011-09-26T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=7811"},"modified":"2022-01-06T19:53:37","modified_gmt":"2022-01-07T00:53:37","slug":"album-review-axel-rudi-pell-the-ballads-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=7811","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Axel Rudi Pell &#8211; The Ballads IV"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?attachment_id=7812\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-7812\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-7812\" title=\"ARPBalladsIVweb\" src=\"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/ARPBalladsIVweb1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"318\" height=\"320\" \/><\/a>Axel Rudi Pell &#8211; The Ballads IV<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Release Date: September 27, 2011<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Highlights: Where The Wild Waters Flow, Holy Diver, Northern Lights, Noblesse Oblige, Love Gun, Glory Night, In The Air Tonight, Touching My Soul, No Chance To Live, Haunted Castle Serenade, The Curse of the Damned<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Ballads IV\u201d is, you guessed it, the fourth installment of \u201cThe Ballads\u201d series by Axel Rudi Pell. \u00a0First off, I\u2019d like give a big fuck you to MetalSucks for saying this was a candidate for \u201cWorst Album of the Year.\u201d \u00a0I love MetalSucks but to them and anyone else, if you don\u2019t like ballads, don\u2019t listen to this album. \u00a0One of the things I love about Axel Rudi Pell and Co. is that they do the metal ballad better than anyone out today. \u00a0The album opens with a brand new track called \u201cWhere The Wild Waters Flow\u201d which once again proves that Johnny Gioelli is one of metals best kept secrets. \u00a0Axel isn\u2019t re-inventing the wheel with this song and that\u2019s fine. \u00a0He has a formula that has turned out some of the most tasteful metal in the past 15 years so no need to go changing things up now is there?<\/p>\n<p>One of the things I love about heavy metal is the ability to wear many different masks. \u00a0The ballad is a hard thing to pull off and Axel and his crew always do an amazing job. \u00a0It\u2019s hard not to hear the Rainbow and Richie Blackmore influences all over place with songs like \u201cNo Chance To Live\u201d and \u201cTouching My Soul\u201d and I love the choice of covers for this collection as well. \u00a0The humor of the Kiss classic \u201cLove Gun\u201d done in acoustic form is nothing but hilarious but still a really fun listen. The asinine lyrics are even more so when you hear them sung in mellow acoustic mode but their rendition of Phil Collins\u2019 \u201cIn The Air Tonight is something to really hear. \u00a0It\u2019s so dark and moody and it really makes for quite a great metal ballad.<\/p>\n<p>Axel really took a huge chance with releasing a piano ballad version of the Dio classic \u201cHoly Diver\u201d which is what I think is responsible for a lot of the backlash. \u00a0I\u2019ve heard people bitch and moan that they made it a \u201cpussy song\u201d. \u00a0Well, I happen to think they did an amazing job with it and I think Dio himself would\u2019ve approved of his good friend Axel\u2019s version. \u00a0Does the world really need another note for note and not as good cover of \u201cHeaven and Hell?\u201d \u00a0I don\u2019t think so. \u00a0They took a great song and did something unique and different with it to pay their respects. \u00a0Like it or not, it was bold, unique and really thoughtful so I give it a thumbs up. \u00a0Too bad I can\u2019t say the same for the cover of \u201cHallelujah.\u201d \u00a0That song is a real stinker but then again, I never liked that song to begin with so sue me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Ballads IV\u201d is a great collection of songs to bring it down a notch and really showcase what a great and versatile musician and songwriter Axel Rudi Pell is. \u00a0Along with lead singer Johnny Gioelli, these two can really deliver a heartfelt and moving heavy metal ballad. \u00a0This is without a doubt a mood piece that should be owned and loved by any fan of great melodic guitar oriented metal with outstanding vocals. \u00a0Go and get this one!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Axel Rudi Pell &#8211; The Ballads IV Release Date: September 27, 2011 Highlights: Where The Wild Waters Flow, Holy Diver, Northern Lights, Noblesse Oblige, Love Gun, Glory Night, In The Air Tonight, Touching My Soul, No Chance To Live, Haunted Castle Serenade, The Curse of the Damned \u201cThe Ballads IV\u201d is, you guessed it, the fourth installment of \u201cThe Ballads\u201d series by Axel Rudi Pell. \u00a0First off, I\u2019d like give a big fuck you to MetalSucks for saying this was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,277],"tags":[479],"class_list":["post-7811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-music-news","tag-axel-rudi-pell"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19841,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7811\/revisions\/19841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}