The first album for 'Axel Rudi Pell' under his own banner and he recruits his fellow band members wisely to make this debut a memorable affair. Lead vocals are taken care of by one time 'Axel Rudi Pell' vocalist 'Charlie Huhn' a superb front man who sounds right at home on this album of cleverly crafted guitar fuelled Metal. While I'm not overly familiar with the rest (other than 'Stratovarius's' drummer 'Jörg Michael') they all turn in faultless performances. The secret to the success of this and many other albums is the balance, strongly penned tracks, which weigh fabulous vocals with challenging guitar work that is flashy but not in the realms of showboating, a mistake 'Yngwie Malmsteen' often makes.

First off is the fast paced 'Wild Cat' a pulsating brisk affair laced with glorious fret work, lyrically it's all pretty basic, but it still makes for a strong opener. Even better is the stunning 'Call of the Wild Dogs' a riff rolling gem of the highest quality, 'Axel's' guitaring is nothing short of brilliant while 'Charlie Huhn' and the backing vocalists turn in a fine performance. As with the first track the lyrics are fairly basic but it all comes together for an absolute cracker. The pace softens for the mid tempo 'Slave of Love' and although it's not up to the pace of the first two it's still very effective with great melodic vocals, tasty guitar licks and a sweet flowing melody. The tempo is restored with 'Cold as Ice' a crunchy rocker, which highlights another memorable chorus, superb instrumental break and more steadfast vocals for one of many album highlights. Next up is the balladsy 'Broken Heart', an exquisitely sung number, which displays 'Charlie Huhn's' great vocal depth and passion as he steals the show from 'Axel', who cleverly keeps the melody low key, which adds to the albums diversity. The pace is restored again for the magnificent 'Call her Princess', another lyrically simplistic track (the verses are great though) which rides on the stunning fretwork of 'Axel' as he just annihilates the fret board- this is just a cracking gem, even better and faster than the live version from 'Knights Live'. The tempo is dropped for the balladsy 'Snake Eyes' a track which balances a light-weight but strong chorus with heavier plodding verses, it all comes off particularly well to make this a popular live favourite. The rockers return with 'Hear you Calling Me', while it's not as brisk as 'Call her Princess' it's a splendidly written and performed number with more strong vocals especially on the chorus and more flashes of genius from 'Axel'. Up to this point the album is superb, but the last two tracks just lose their way and can distract from the excellence that comes before. First up is a short African sounding instrumental title 'Return of the Calyph from the Apocalypse of Babylon' and to be honest is just a throw away effort and the only really weak point of the album. This effort acts as a lead-in to 'Promised Dreams' which has glimpses of previous gems but tries to incorporate a mystical approach which just doesn't seem to work against the solid plodding rhythm of this potentially hard edged number.

Other than the closing two efforts this is a cracking debut highlighting some delightful tracks and the usual fantastic guitar licks we have come to expect. I always think 'Axel' receives such unfair criticism, especially that of his music being unimaginative and dated, the simple fact is this man can write a cracking Metal track then inject it with some top shredding and that's what he does here to perfection.