Can we call "Diamonds Unlocked" Axel's 12th studio work? Both yes and no. The concept of the disc is certainly his, as are all the arrangements and guitar parts. There is just one problem: we hear barely more than a minute and a half of his own music — a rather pompous yet utterly bland and uninteresting intro. Everything else is cover versions of Axel's favorite bands. The first question that arises is: why?! Let us answer.
Track number 2 is "Warrior" by RIOT, from their first album "Rock City" (1977). Axel turned the rather dreary hard rock number into a decent power metal composition, and of course the then-vocalist of RIOT cannot be compared to Giouelli, who is simply leagues better.
Track number 3 is a cover of "Beautiful Day," a relatively recent piece by the famous U2. Objectively speaking, Axel completely reworked the song. How good this hard rock version is remains debatable — on its own merits it may not be bad, but all of Bono's ideas have clearly been killed.
"Stone" is an absolute success. A lackluster Chris Rea song, later re-sung by Paul Rodgers, now receives its third birth — an excellently done cover that sounds far more beautiful and expressive than the original. (Axel himself stressed, however, that his cover was specifically of Rodgers' performance of the song as part of THE LAW.)
And then, a total disaster in the worst sense of the word: Axel turns "Love Gun" by KISS into... well, a good ballad it does not become, and the energy has vanished. One recalls that Doro Pesch also turned Judas Priest's "Breaking The Law" into a ballad, but there the ballad cuts off halfway through and the song's original idea is at least partially preserved. Everything works fine under one condition only: if you have never heard the original.
Michael Bolton once played rock. Axel decided to rework "Fool's Game" from 1983. He did. The result is very boring.
Moving on... Where are you going, Mr. Axel? To cover FREE and re-sing Paul Rodgers not as part of a superstar project but as a bluesman is in itself a great risk. A metal version of this song is a doomed endeavor from the start — the blues foundation must not disappear... This is arguably the most unsuccessful track on the disc.
What is good about MONTROSE, besides the fact that the future vocalist of VAN HALEN sang there? Hard to say. The cover is a considerably more enjoyable listen than the original, even though the song is supposedly very well-known.
The most dangerous moment (we will not speak of FREE — that is the most foolish moment; one should not try to jump over one's own head) is the cover of Phil Collins' famous "In the Air Tonight." And strange as it may sound, it turned out very respectably — perhaps because Axel stripped out the guitars wherever possible. Of course it cannot compare to the original, but the song comes across quite positively. The only drawback is that it ended up considerably longer.
The penultimate cover is yet another ballad made from a non-ballad: "Like a Child Again" by the British band THE MISSION. This time, even without hearing the original, it is still very lackluster.
The closing song is another swing at the greats — this time THE WHO. But I must say, this cover turned out quite successfully.
Let us pose the question again: should this album be considered a FULL-FLEDGED studio release? No! Axel wanted to play his favorite songs, and he did — good for him. Giouelli is a brilliant vocalist from a technical standpoint, but he is monotonous to a frightening degree — his voice sounds absolutely identical everywhere. Many of the tracks sound quite interesting, as long as you do not think about the originals. The insistence on guitar solos, with the band leader thus blatantly sticking out in nearly every song, the absence of a certain reverence for instrumental traditions, and the consequent reinterpretation of works far from always for the better, do not allow one to give this disc a truly high score.