One nice thing about Diamonds Unlocked is that Axel Rudi Pell picks some interesting songs to cover. Other than the typical Kiss and The Who covers, the other choices are more adventurous. U2's "Beautiful Day," Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight" and The Mission's "I'm A Child Again" get the melodic rock/AOR treatment, with mixed results.
Johnny Gioeli is Axel Rudi Pell's vocalist, and has a higher pitched voice with good range and a decent amount of power. He sounds great on songs like "Heartbreaker" by Free and "Warrior" by Riot, but his voice doesn't quite fit some of the pop tracks like "Beautiful Day." Since this is Axel Rudi Pell's band, you know you are going to get a lot of guitar solos, and the album doesn't disappoint in that area. Overall this is an enjoyable album, and I actually liked their version of "Fools Game," which was done originally by the not so metal Michael Bolton.
