Axel Rudi Pell - Lost XXIII (2022)

Only true thoroughbred musicians with truly great creative substance manage to stay on the market as long as Axel Rudi Pell. For well over 30 years, the Bochum guitarist and songwriter has been releasing new albums at regular intervals with his A.R.P band. The response to them is consistently brilliant, the dazzling sales figures, high chart listings and continuously increasing audience numbers of his concerts and tours speak a clear language

Now - as usual via Steamhammer/SPV - his latest, altogether 21st studio work LOST XXIII will be released as digipack, CD, vinyl double album, strictly limited box set. To shorten the waiting time for his fans, the first advance single (including video clip) 'Survive' will already be released on February 18, 2022. LOST XXIII is in Pell's long career a very special, because particularly varied album, with ten (plus intro) deeply melodic hard rock songs, in which the A.R.P.-characteristic style can be found as well as fast-paced highlights and compositional surprises. Among the highlights is the title track with its Arabic scales in the chorus, a - as Pell explains - "longer, epic track that is typical for me."

At the same time, Pell welcomes many familiar faces on LOST XXIII, underscoring his consistency both musically and personally: As on the previous four studio albums Into The Storm (2014), Game Of Sins (2016), Knights Call (2018) and the highly decorated with #5 in the German charts Sign Of The Times (2021), the cover disc Diamonds Unlocked II (2021) and two live discs, the ARP band in 2022 consists of singer Johnny Gioeli, Bassist Volker Krawczak, keyboardist Ferdy Doernberg and drummer Bobby Rondinelli (ex- Rainbow), a perfectly oiled hard rock machinery that routinely implements Pell's compositions and at the same time refines them with its own trademarks. Even longer than the current line-up is Pell's 33(!)-year affiliation (in the 33rd year of his solo career!) with Steamhammer/SPV. An absolute exception in a profession characterized by discontinuity and short-lived trends

Above all, the countless ARP fans benefit from this reliability: the ten songs (plus intro) on XXIII show the band in brilliant form, with compositions that are among Pell's strongest to date. Be it a typical guitar riff-influenced number like 'No Compromise', the track 'Gone With The Wind' based on a true story about a dog that waited in vain for a year at the train platform for his deceased master, but also the fast 'Follow The Beast' with its finger pointing to the NWOBHM era, or the ballad 'Fly With Me', which is introduced by an atmospheric piano and subsequently spreads goosebumps feeling. Not to forget the racy instrumental 'The Rise Of Ankhoor' (Pell: "The title is a little play on words from 'anchor' and 'encore', which as we know means 'encore'") and the stylistically as well as lyrically remarkable numbers 'Down On The Streets' (to be released as second single on March 25, 2022) and 'Freight Train'. "Thin Lizzy and AC/DC might have had their fingers in the pie here, respectively," Pell explains with a wink, adding, "Both songs are about life on the streets, of people who are homeless for various reasons and - in the case of 'Freight Train' - jump on trains in the manner of American hobos to travel across the country." Last but not least: LOST XXIII ends with the instrumental bonus track 'Quarantined 1', which Pell had already recorded alone at his home in the spring of 2020 and presented to fans via YouTube as a "Corona bridging aid", so to speak. For the album version Bobby Rondinelli has now contributed real drums and thus made it a "real" ARP track

LOST XIII was produced by Axel Rudi Pell, mixed by Tommy Geiger, mastered by Ulf Horbelt, and the mystical cover artwork was once again created by Thomas Ewerhard (Gotthard, Edguy, Sons Of Apollo, among others). Finally, it only remains to solve the little mystery surrounding the album title. Pell: "XXIII is the Roman numeral for the number '23' and symbolizes the 23rd letter in the alphabet, the 'W'. And in this case that stands as an abbreviation for 'World', so you could also call the album 'Lost World' and coin it to the currently worrying situation of the world."

TRACKLIST

1. Axel Rudi Pell - Lost XXIII Prequel (Intro)
2. Axel Rudi Pell - Survive
3. Axel Rudi Pell - No Compromise
4. Axel Rudi Pell - Down on the Streets
5. Axel Rudi Pell - Gone with the Wind
6. Axel Rudi Pell - Freight Train
7. Axel Rudi Pell - Follow the Beast
8. Axel Rudi Pell - Fly with Me
9. Axel Rudi Pell - The Rise of Ankhoor
10. Axel Rudi Pell - Lost XXIII