It’s been seven years since the last Axel Rudi Pell compilation “The Ballads III” saw the light of day. Lots of things happened, most importantly the tragic death of the iconic Ronnie James Dio (Rainbow/Black Sabbath) in the May of 2010. Axel not only lost one of his inspirations, he also lost a friend, touring with Dio in the summer of 2009 for the last time in Germany. That lead to a tribute which stands out among the many already been done all over the world: Dio’s classic tune, the title track of his first solo release, “Holy Diver”, finds a new magic in Pell’s performance, an orchestral and very emotional version where Gioeli sings his ass off. One of his finest moments creates Axel with his newest song “Where The Wild Waters Flow”, being one of the best ballads he’s ever written to date. But the climax of “The Ballads IV” is without a doubt the fascinating and tear-dropping version of Leonard Cohen’s classic “Hallelujah”. Gioeli is joined by a children’s choir here!
There are 9 more songs, of course, pretty much known from his previous albums (e.g. Kiss’ “Love Gun” and Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight”) which wraps up another classic, dynamic and high-quality Axel Rudi Pell album. As one fan from Israel said on Facebook: “If there was justice in the music business, your ballads would be as big as the Scorpions one.”
RELEASE EUROPE: Sep. 26th (2011)
RELEASE G/S/A: Sep. 23rd (2011)
![Purified In Blood Album Cover[1]](http://pirate-smile.de/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Purified-In-Blood-Album-Cover1-80x80.jpg)
![Purified In Blood Album Cover[1]](http://pirate-smile.de/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Purified-In-Blood-Album-Cover1-260x152.jpg)
