I am usually not a fan of hard rock or metal ballads at all, simply because most such bands have no idea of what they are doing with such songs, but the music of Axel Rudi Pell touches me in a way that few other bands do and Johnny Gioeli plays a big part in this but also the wonderful guitar playing from Pell himself. The idea most metal bands have of a ballad is to create a simple guitar background and then add a mighty chorus on top of it but here there is so much more, there is both thought, melody and feeling behind everything. 70 minutes of tear-jerking music might be a bit too much for most people but this is a perfect album for a cozy evening on a dark autumn night, whatever you might be doing. Axel Rudi Pell master rock ballads like no-one else and even though most of these songs can be found on his other releases I will rate the music solely based on the quality and not the necessity of this compilation which can be discussed of course.

written by Vincent Eldefors

Playing time: 69.46