Axel Stommel

German guitarist Axel Rudi Pell is one of heavy metal's masterminds, thanks to his spiraling playing techniques, which helped Pell remain a mainstay in the hard rock genre for decades. His first band, Steeler, kicked off a career in Europe during the early part of the '80s, issuing three albums (1984's Steeler, 1985's Rulin' the Earth, 1986's Strike Back) prior to 1987's Undercover Animal, which signaled the beginning of Pell's solo career. This professional jaunt allowed Pell to fully expose his riveting playing power and collaborations between he and other musicians.

Berlin trumpeters Axel Dörner and Lina Allemano team up to create experimental improvised sonic explorations, both in duo and in larger trumpet-ensemble form. The pieces' titles reference the small lesser-known objects circling around the sun in our solar system; the album’s title Aphelia being the furthest distance away in orbit around the sun.

.Capable of creating melodic hard rock hits in his sleep, Axel Rudi Pell is a name synonymous with epic head-bangers. Along aside a strong supporting cast of musicians, Pell enters 2022 sounding as fresh as ever with Lost XXVII…

Ballads play a very special role in the history of rock music. Firstly: They document the emotional side of the genre and show that behind (almost) every rocker`s hard chest beats a soft heart. Secondly: Those quieter songs are being played by radio stations without rock-affinity – and are loved by listeners for their emotional depth. And thirdly: In an increasingly hectic world, ballads offer brief moments of pause, of reflection on the essential things in life. So it`s no wonder that the ballad compilations of the Axel Rudi Pell Band are an absolute success. Over 250,000 copies have been sold of ‘The Ballads I’ (1993) to ‘The Ballads V’ (2017) alone.

German hard rock guitar wizard Axel Rudi Pell has finished recording and mixing his latest album "Diamonds Unlocked II", set for release on July 30th 2021 on Steamhammer/SPV.The successor to last year's top 5 album "Sign Of The Times" is the follow-up to his 2007 cover recording "Diamonds Unlocked". Pell's carefully considered decision not to release brand-new material for the first time in almost 15 years is mainly based on the ongoing pandemic and current restrictions on live concerts. The 61-year-old explains that "it makes no sense at all to put out new songs that we will not be able to perform live." But fans desperately waiting for a new studio album will have to acknowledge that this kind of solution is a pretty good one indeed!

Harald Grosskopf is a legendary drummer who was among the first (if not the first) to play drum together with sequencers. He was a regular guest on albums by Klaus Schulze in the second half of the seventies. After he’d joined Ashra, the band headed more into a rock direction, never forgetting their electronic roots. Steve Baltes became a member of Ashra in the nineties. His electronics gave the pioneers a modern approach. Axel Manrico Heilhecker is considered on of Germany’s leading guitarists. They already work together as Sunya Beat (Harald and Axel) and N-Tribe (Harald and Steve).
"Four Times Three" (4x3) is released under their own names. The four tracks on "Four Times Three" all have traces of the great classic Ashra albums…

The organ works of Axel Ruoff, born in Stuttgart in 1957, constitute one of the most important contributions to the literature for the instrument by any composer since Messiaen. Stylistically, his music unites the French cathedral tradition of composers like Langlais, Dupré and Guillou with the concern with counterpoint and logic heard in Reger and later German figures. Like Messiaen, Ruoff often finds stimulus in religious sources; unlike him, it is biblical narrative that inspires many of Ruoff’s works, and he uses the unparalleled resources of the modern symphonic organ in his response to some of the most dramatic scenes in the Old Testament, writing music of freewheeling energy and uncompromising power.