Review by MartinDavey87 for Axel Rudi Pell - Nasty Reputation (1991)

Axel Rudi Pell ushers in the 90's with another dose of 80's hard rock. Trying to keep the flame alive and harkening back to the sounds of Dio, Rainbow and Yngwie Malmsteen, 'Nasty Reputation' sounds almost identical to its 1989 predecessor, 'Wild Obsession'.

Fist-pumping, machismo-laced hard rock is the order of the day, so take your shirts off (keep your leather jacket on, though), let your hair down and wail away to the glories of the night life, women, lawlessness, and whatever other cheese-riddled thoughts are conjured up when you think of 80's rock. Because that's exactly what you're getting here.

The songs themselves are of a slightly better quality from before, but to be honest they're still mostly forgettable. Vocalist Rob Rock (with a name like that, he was hardly going to be a dentist, was he?) has an incredible range, but at times, hanging onto the last word of every sentence at a high pitch does get a bit annoying. And as for the man himself, Axel Rudi Pell has absolutely unlimited potential on the guitar, but more often than not his soloing just wonders off into a flurry of unrecognizable notes.

Thinking positively however, the title track is actually an incredibly pumping song, and 'Fighting the Law' also has its charm. But otherwise, there's not a lot here to really get excited about. 'Land of the Giants' could be really good, if not for the five-minute jam section which is boring as hell, followed by two minutes of the same riff while Mr. Rock reminds us constantly of the name of the song. A cover of Deep Purple's classic, 'When a Blind Man Cries', also fails to save this album.

Overall, Axel Rudi Pell will go on to release some incredible music, but his (or their?) early albums are mundane affairs. There's other bands out there that do this kind of music better, while these ones just feel like they've come about ten years too late.