The blonde bomber guitarist known as Axel Rudi Pell is somewhat of a hometown hero in the metal scene of his native Germany. He has been a long running institution over there and has had decent success in the rest of Europe. Of course not in the USA. LOL bro, LOL. While he is obviously a "guitarists' guitarist" he isn't a speed demon type ala Chris Impelletiri, nor does he come from the Yngwie school of shredding. Axel's main inspiration is obviously Ritchie Blackmore. From the endless amount of castles that adorn the man's album covers, to having at least a couple of ten minute long songs on most albums, to being one of those bands that plays a two hour concert with only ten songs because each one turned into an extended jam fest.

For whatever reason, it seems like not many people are aware of vocalist Jeff Scott Soto's tenure with Axel Rudi Pell. In total the two did four studio releases and one live album together. Black Moon Pyramid was the second to last album with Jeff on vocals and it was a slight departure from the usual flavors we get from Axel Rudi Pell. He decides to throw in several curve balls without going too far out of his way to alienate fans. When the songs decide to out and out rock, this is probably the band's most straightforward and no frills release of the Jeff Scott Soto era. Fool Fool is what represents this album the most when it comes to live setlists and compilations, but there are many deep cuts to enjoy. Touch The Rainbow sounds like a lost Jimi Hendrix track from the vaults. I actually had to check to make sure this wasn't one of those types of tracks where there's new lyrics over an old song. Aquarius Dance is reminiscent of when Led Zeppelin went to the Shire and got all acoustical on everyone. Having these types of songs actually fits the sound of the band pretty decent and doesn't jar the listener. Since Axel Rudi Pell's sound is rooted in classic Blackmore worship, having other sounds from that era show up isn't all that of a shock to the senses. Jeff Scott Soto also puts on a highly varied vocal performance here with these experimental types of songs. He sounds quite comfortable and you can tell that improvising on Axel's long jams live is something he's quite good at. In the fast rocking You And I he pushes himself hard in the chorus and belts out some excellent high notes. There is one big epic here and that is the title track. Black Moon Pyramid (the song) recalls Land Of The Giants from the Nasty Reputation album in the intro. Starting off with bass n drums n vocals, this is plodding and pounding until we get to the Eastern sounding melody you knew we were going to get since "pyramid" is the title! Coming around for the second verse the guitars provide a new heartbeat and the Egyptian type melody gets emphasized. As a whole, this isn't one of Axel's best epics, but it isn't a dumpster fire either. Finally, there's a couple of interesting instrumentals outside of the pointless intro. Sphinx's Revenge is the first instrumental and it's the faster of the two. Surprisingly, Serenade Of Darkness (Opus #1 Adagio con Aggresso) isn't a classical sounding track apart from the intro. It's more of a shred festival but over a slower beat than Sphinx's Revenge.

While Axel Rudi Pell is a rather unchanging foundation much like AC / DC, there are enough subtle differences between albums that cause them to be identifiable. And I don't just mean the vocalists. After the first two albums and then Jeff Scott Soto, New York native Johnny Gioeli took the vocal spot in 1998 and has kept it since. In an ever expanding discography, Black Moon Pyramid is worthy of a gander. Probably because this was a decidedly European band, Axel Rudi Pell was not stricken with "bad nineties metal" syndrome.