Giving how disappointing the last few albums from Yngwie Johan Malmsteen (YJM), I decided to look back to his solo discography of studio albums with vocalists to remind myself how good some of those are. It's a pity that it's all in the past now.
Marching Out / Rising Force (1984-1985)
Swedish guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader, YJM is without a doubt a very accomplished musician technically (rated among the the greatest electric guitar players of all time) and commercially (estimated net worth of $7.5 million). Still it's probably not nice to realize after more than 20 years into your career that your first two albums were never surpassed. Those albums are regarded as a seminal releases in the power metal and neoclassical metal genres. Not to mention the importance for guitarist. “Far Beyond the Sun” was far beyond (pun intended) what any guitar player had ever imagined possible and still today it's one of the best guitar/instrumental tracks in metal. The partnership with Jeff Scott Soto (lead vocals) and Jens Johansson (keyboard) was also superb. Soto performance is at his peak, powerful voice, hitting high notes and emotionally into it.
Trilogy (1986)
Mark Boals took the vocal duties for YJM's third album. We now know the revolving door that YJM's Band is, but after such amazing album, it was probably a shock that Soto left. The good news is that Boals delivers big time in this album. He has a higher pitched voice and while not as powerful, he can reach even higher notes than Soto. We know that "exaggeration" fits well the band's boss style. Despite being slightly cheesier than the first two album, the album is not a huge departure from the predecessor, meaning, it's almost as good. The song writing is great and Johansson brothers (keys/drums) gave consistency to their base sound.
Odyssey (1988)
While Odyssey features one of YJM best songs ever "Rising Force" overall the album is not as powerful as the predecessors. Probably due to the more radio friendly approach (riding the mid-80's glam metal wave, just listen to "Heaven Tonight") and the performance of singer Joe Lynn Turner.
The new and now very well known singer helped the album to become to this day YJM's highest-charting release on the Billboard 200. Many tracks sound a lot like Turner's Rainbow albums.
Eclipse / Fire And Ice (1990-1992)
As we get into the fifth and sixth albums and fourth singer with Göran Edman, YJM maintained the radio friendly glam metal approach. Another important line-up change, Mats Olausson took over the keyboard duties. Eclipse is particularly weak with the only song really worth it being "Bedroom Eyes". F&I displays a bit more power and shredding.
The Seventh Sign / Magnum Opus (1994-1995)
Those are special albums to me since Magnum Opus was my first YJM album which I picked up when it was released. Mats Olausson survived the revolving door and stayed as keyboard player, Michael Vescera took over vocal duties and Mike Terrana the drums (but only for The Seventh Sign). With those albums YJM finally left behind the glam metal influence and dove into the 90's power metal phase. Those albums are very concise clocking both under 50 minutes and featuring no more than 12 tracks. The Seventh Sign is particular strong and actually one of my favorites. Magnum Opus starts strong but loses momentum int he mid section. I like Vescera's performance, the song writing and for the first time we hear a heavy influence from Blues and Jimi Hendrix. I do not tend to like ballads, but "Forever One" is probably my YJM favorite one.
Facing the Animal (1997)
Marching Out / Rising Force (1984-1985)
Swedish guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader, YJM is without a doubt a very accomplished musician technically (rated among the the greatest electric guitar players of all time) and commercially (estimated net worth of $7.5 million). Still it's probably not nice to realize after more than 20 years into your career that your first two albums were never surpassed. Those albums are regarded as a seminal releases in the power metal and neoclassical metal genres. Not to mention the importance for guitarist. “Far Beyond the Sun” was far beyond (pun intended) what any guitar player had ever imagined possible and still today it's one of the best guitar/instrumental tracks in metal. The partnership with Jeff Scott Soto (lead vocals) and Jens Johansson (keyboard) was also superb. Soto performance is at his peak, powerful voice, hitting high notes and emotionally into it.
Trilogy (1986)
Mark Boals took the vocal duties for YJM's third album. We now know the revolving door that YJM's Band is, but after such amazing album, it was probably a shock that Soto left. The good news is that Boals delivers big time in this album. He has a higher pitched voice and while not as powerful, he can reach even higher notes than Soto. We know that "exaggeration" fits well the band's boss style. Despite being slightly cheesier than the first two album, the album is not a huge departure from the predecessor, meaning, it's almost as good. The song writing is great and Johansson brothers (keys/drums) gave consistency to their base sound.
Odyssey (1988)
While Odyssey features one of YJM best songs ever "Rising Force" overall the album is not as powerful as the predecessors. Probably due to the more radio friendly approach (riding the mid-80's glam metal wave, just listen to "Heaven Tonight") and the performance of singer Joe Lynn Turner.
The new and now very well known singer helped the album to become to this day YJM's highest-charting release on the Billboard 200. Many tracks sound a lot like Turner's Rainbow albums.
Eclipse / Fire And Ice (1990-1992)
As we get into the fifth and sixth albums and fourth singer with Göran Edman, YJM maintained the radio friendly glam metal approach. Another important line-up change, Mats Olausson took over the keyboard duties. Eclipse is particularly weak with the only song really worth it being "Bedroom Eyes". F&I displays a bit more power and shredding.
The Seventh Sign / Magnum Opus (1994-1995)
Those are special albums to me since Magnum Opus was my first YJM album which I picked up when it was released. Mats Olausson survived the revolving door and stayed as keyboard player, Michael Vescera took over vocal duties and Mike Terrana the drums (but only for The Seventh Sign). With those albums YJM finally left behind the glam metal influence and dove into the 90's power metal phase. Those albums are very concise clocking both under 50 minutes and featuring no more than 12 tracks. The Seventh Sign is particular strong and actually one of my favorites. Magnum Opus starts strong but loses momentum int he mid section. I like Vescera's performance, the song writing and for the first time we hear a heavy influence from Blues and Jimi Hendrix. I do not tend to like ballads, but "Forever One" is probably my YJM favorite one.
Facing the Animal (1997)
Going into this review, I had those memories that Facing the Animal was a great album, unfortunately revisiting it now did not confirm that. I also know why that's the case, the album suffers of frontloadness©. That means that 5 of the first 6 songs are really good, but after that there's a bunch of OK songs and fillers. It's a shame that Mats Levén only sang on this studio album, he really delivered a strong performance. With the great Cozy Powell on drums, Facing the Animal has this rougher production and more hard rock than the polished production of the previous albums.
Alchemy / War To End All Wars (1999-2000)
In 1999 YJM resuscitated the brand Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force by releasing Alchemy under this band name. He did kept long time collaborator Mats Olausson on the keyboards, brought back Mark Boals which became the only singer to sing in more than two studio albums, and the incredible John Macaluso on drums. All of those were phenomenal decisions. Alchemy did brought back the sound of the first three albums with an added element of modern production. Alchemy is my favorite album since the first two. It's the heaviest album of YJM career (not a single balled on it!), the tone of the guitars are so heavy and dirty distorted, Boals performance is top notch (if you like soaring high pitched vocals), the drumming is relentless and it features the best instrumental tracks since the mid-80's, including a very nice bluesy track called (not subtle) "Blue". War To End All Wars maintains the same style tracks like "Prophet Of Doom" and "Crucify" are fantastic but does not hold the same quality throughout the record. Both albums are quite long hitting 70 min each, it's not necessarily a problem but it can get too much, well in YJM view "more is more", so no problem.
Attack / Unleash The Fury (2002-2005)
Alchemy / War To End All Wars (1999-2000)
In 1999 YJM resuscitated the brand Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force by releasing Alchemy under this band name. He did kept long time collaborator Mats Olausson on the keyboards, brought back Mark Boals which became the only singer to sing in more than two studio albums, and the incredible John Macaluso on drums. All of those were phenomenal decisions. Alchemy did brought back the sound of the first three albums with an added element of modern production. Alchemy is my favorite album since the first two. It's the heaviest album of YJM career (not a single balled on it!), the tone of the guitars are so heavy and dirty distorted, Boals performance is top notch (if you like soaring high pitched vocals), the drumming is relentless and it features the best instrumental tracks since the mid-80's, including a very nice bluesy track called (not subtle) "Blue". War To End All Wars maintains the same style tracks like "Prophet Of Doom" and "Crucify" are fantastic but does not hold the same quality throughout the record. Both albums are quite long hitting 70 min each, it's not necessarily a problem but it can get too much, well in YJM view "more is more", so no problem.
Attack / Unleash The Fury (2002-2005)
2002's Attack brought a full line-up change with Doogie White who sang on Rainbow's last studio album as the new singer. Another interesting addition was Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater) on the keyboards but he didn't stay for Unleash The Fury and was replaced by Joakim Svalberg (Opeth). Patrick Johansson took over the drums for both records. As much as I tried to really get into those albums, it never hit me like the previous ones. There are certainly great songs in both of them (e.g. "Touch the Sky" or "Locked & Loaded") but both albums are very long, full of fillers and many songs go back to that softer early 90's sound. Derek Sherinian's keys are way in the background (the good "Baroque and Roll" being an exception).
Perpetual Flame / Relentless (2008-2010)
the first with ex-Judas Priest and Iced Earth singer Tim "Ripper" Owens. The album also features famed keyboardist Derek Sherinian back on keyboards but soon replaced by Nick Marino "Marinovic" for Relentless. Perpetual Flame is a return to form, it picks up from where War To End All Wars left. There's more melody, power and metal while still delivering on what we expect from YJM. Not only the song writing is better than the last two albums, but Tim Owens brought back a powerful and emotional vocal performance. Some tracks like "Red Devil" showcase this perfectly. Note that for Relentless the Rising Force band name which was being used since Alchemy is dropped and Owens only sings on 6 of the 14 tracks. YJM sings one song and the others are instrumentals. All in all, not very interesting album and it was a indication of where YJM would go next.
As of today, that's all for me. The albums since Relentless are not even worth discussing and I don't think (but hope I'm wrong), we will ever see the good old days of this phenomenal guitar player who once produced such classic albums.
As of today, that's all for me. The albums since Relentless are not even worth discussing and I don't think (but hope I'm wrong), we will ever see the good old days of this phenomenal guitar player who once produced such classic albums.
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