Yngwie Malmsteen |
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Genre(s): | Neoclassical, Progressive Metal | |||||||||||||
| Instrument(s): | Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar | ||||||||||||||
| Trademark(s): | Virtuoso guitarist, neoclassical compositions, blazing speed, articulate precision, lightning fast sweep picking, pioneer of the neoclassical genre. | ||||||||||||||
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Yngwie Malmsteen is the original pioneer of the neoclassical genre. He took the music world by storm in 1983 with his virtuoso guitar technique, the likes of which the world had never seen before. Combining techniques derived from classical virtuosos, such as Paganini, with classical structuring derived from classical compositional masters, such as JS Bach, and metal texturing and tones, Yngwie invented a genre of music that would inspire many guitarists and musicians for decades to follow. This new, neoclassical genre of music was marked by aggressive, speedy instrumentalism that was balanced with articulate, precise technicianry that respected all (or most) of the standards of conventional classical music.
Yngwie has several trademarks in his style and technique that are easily recognizable. These include his blinding fast arpeggios accomplished by his sweep picking technique, blazing, towering traversal of minor and harmonic minor scales, pedal tones, aggressive patterns, singeing melodies, and disciplined arrangements.
Facing The Animal, Yngwie Malmsteen
Facing The Animal marks the end of an era for Yngwie and the beginning of a new era. There are several tracks that stand out that make this CD worthwhile. These are Only The Strong, My Resurrection, Air On A Theme, among a few others. I wouldn't say that these tracks are anything groundbreaking as far as composition goes, but they are cool songs that make this CD worth getting.
Concerto Suite, Yngwie Malmsteen
Yngwie fulfills a life-long dream in this effort that stars him playing with a full classical orchestra comprised of professional musicians on conventional instruments. This is not neoclassical. This is Yngwie's debut as a modern classical composer. The compositions adhere strictly to the sonata allegro format that classical compositions used to be based upon. Concerto Suite is much like a violin concerto, except the violinist is replaced with Yngwie on the electric guitar. Don't expect any thundering power chords on this one. The composition is impressive, marked by Yngwie's trademark style. My favorite is the opening track, Icarus Dream Suite, a reworked rendition of my favorite from Rising Force. You have to approach this one as though it were a traditional classical piece when you listen.
This release slipped past me and I didn't pick it up until after the War To End All Wars. This probably turned out to be a good thing because I might not have picked up War To End All Wars sooner if I had gotten Alchemy first. Alchemy starts out with high expectations and fizzles out from there. Although there is some good playing on this CD, I was disappointed overall with the compositional content. I want more neoclassical and new stylistic elements from new CDs from Yngwie. This CD definitely does not meet that criteria to my expectations. War To End All Wars is better in these regards. The few highlights from this CD are Blitzkrieg, Blue (a well-fealt instrumental), and the neoclassical recapitulation Asylum. The three course Asylum, although characterized by trademark Yngwie riffing, restores some faith in Yngwie as a legitimate canditate in the neoclassical arena. He's always got at least one on the CD that compels you to buy it.
If you pick up Double Live, you should not expect anything new from Yngwie on this CD, as this CD rehashes old material. What you should expect is some inspired renditions of the material that is covered. Yngwie's playing is in good form on this live CD. His lead work on old favorites, such as Far Beyond The Sun, is as good as I have heard him live on the many bootlegs that I have heard. Yngwie plays fast and cleanly with good direction and focus of the like that hasn't been heard from him since the mid 80s. But, as I said, don't expect anything new stylistically. I wasn't thrilled with all of the selections on the CD and I think the CD would have been better if a few of the rock genre pieces could have been left off or replaced with neoclassical pieces. But, the live versions of Resurrection, Never Die, Gates Of Bablyon (an old Rainbow favorite), Pictures Of Home (another Ritchie Blackmore favorite from Deep Purple), Seventh Sign, and I'll See The Light are well done. I was surprised that some of these tracks came off as well as they did live. This is a good one to add to your Yngwie collection.
War To End All Wars, Yngwie Malmsteen
Before I picked up this CD, I read a promo where Yngwie said that this effort would be his best to date. I was pretty skeptical to believe that he would ever produce anything to measure up to his first solo effort, Rising Force. Although, not a straight instrumental album as was Rising Force, the playing and composition on War To End All Wars is Yngwie's best since at least Marching Out. (I'm not going to tell you that there is anything better on the new one than I Am A Viking.) There are a number of good instrumentals with some new aspects to Yngwie's style and with speed that is mind boggling. The composition on the instrumentals is new and solid. My favorite on this one is not an instrumental, however. Running Wild is the postfix to I Am A Viking. This one strikes up a chord with those of us that were around when it all started. Mark Boals can sing. His voice rivals that of Jeff Scott Soto. This album is a departure from the trend Yngwie had embarked on in the early 90s.
Definitely pick this one up and give it a couple of listenings to adjust to. This one is in my permanent rotation.
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