One of the most dominating "guitar gods" to walk the planet, this Swedish shredder exploded in mid-80s and since released numerous albums featuring numerous musicians with numerous songs containing numerous and lengthy guitar solos. After playing in other people's projects, he started "Rising Force." This band's first vocalist was Jeff Scott Soto, who appeared on "Rising Force" (1984), "Marching Out" (1985), and, 11 years later, "Inspiration" (1996). Next came Mark Boals, who sang on "Trilogy" (1986), and, again, a decade later, on "Inspiration," "Alchemy" (1999), and "The War To End All Wars" (2000). Joe Lynn Turner (who previously fronted Rainbow) appeared on "Odyssey" (1988) and "Trial By Fire" (1989). Goran Edman appeared on "Eclipse" (1990) and "Fire And Ice" (1992), Michael Vescera - on "The Seventh Sign" (1994) and "Magnum Opus" (1995), and Mats Leven - on "Facing The Animal" (1997). His latest frontman is Doogie White (who also sang in Rainbow, as Yngwie apparently loves picking up Blackmore's leftover singers), who appeared on "Attack" (2002) and "Unleash The Fury" (2005). I'm not even going to bother with keyboarders, drummers, and bassists, otherwise the page would never load. Apparently, Yngwie is quite a pain to work with. Yngwie also briefly toured with Jorn Lande as his singer (if you can find the soundfiles with Lande and Yngwie together, download them immediately, the are EXCELLENT), but that ended in a fistfight between the two. Yngwie is a target of enormous amounts of jokes but is still well respected for his contributions to metal.
MARCHING OUT (1984)
RATING: ***1/2
BEST SONGS: "I'll See The Light," "Caught In The Middle," "Anguish And Fear"
What can I say, this guy can surely shred his arpeggios. He definitely possesses ten of the fastest fingers in the world. Unfortunately, the songs sometimes come off a little one-sided, but Soto's inspired singing somewhat helps. The sound is a little too 80s for my taste (and, actually, much of the Yngwie's 90s stuff that I've heard, sounds a lot better to me than to many Yngwie's fans). "I'll See The Light Tonight" is an excellent song, one of the best I've heard from Yngwie (for the record, my favorite is "Rising Force" from Odyssey). "Disciples Of Hell" I don't like as much: the lyrics are pretty silly (and the rhymes, oh man...). Btw, in all honesty, Yngwie's lyrics were never his main concern, and, with that in mind, they're quite on par with the rest of the 80s metal "poetry." "Caught In The Middle," "Anguish & Fear," and "Soldier Without Faith" are all good tunes, especially the first one: excellent rocker. Another problem is that with all the solos I'm having a hard time telling the songs apart. "I'm A Viking" (I guess -- he's Swedish...) never ends; it's a good background song for doing homework to. Actually, entire album is pretty good for background: besides "I'll See The Light Tonight," none of the tracks make me want to jump up and start headbanging. Still, great melodic guitar torturing makes it worth having.
ODYSSEY (1988)
RATING: ****
BEST SONGS: "Rising Force," "Riot In The Dungeons," "Faster Than The Speed Of Light"
Features ex-Rainbow's vocalist Joe Lynn Turner and future Stratovarius's keyboarder Jens Johansson. Also features an all time classic, "Rising Force." "Rising Force" is, in my opinion, the best song from the extensive catalog of Yngwie Jay. It rips. Great chorus (although other vocalists did a better job on it than Turner), great interplay between the guitar and the keyboard. "Hold On" is a decent mid-tempo track. "Heaven Tonight" sounds like something Winger or White Lion could write, but, as you've correctly guessed, with a much more intricate solo. "Dreaming (Tell Me)" has a great acoustic first half, as Yngwie demonstrates that he was just as assiduous of a guitar student on classical guitar as he was on a Fender. To tell you the truth, I don't understand why exactly didn't YJM & Rising Force reach the same popularity as White Lion and Slaughter. Same era, similar songwriting (solos aside), good looking guys with long hair (look! Yngwie weighs under 300 lbs. here!), yet they just never clicked with American idiots the way other glam losers did. I mean, YJM was a thousand times better than those people, but I'm not sure how it hurt him. Back to the music. "Riot In The Dungeons" kicks ass, plain and simple. "Deja Vu" and "Crystal Ball" are pretty cool, "Faster Than The Speed Of Light" is, indeed, fast (how many fingers does this man have?). As for lyrics, don't expect any thought-provoking revelations, as all lyrics were written by Turner, but occasionasly a cool piece of lyrics comes up ("Rising Force," "Riot"). Basically, all Yngwie's material can be separated into three categories: songs with catchy choruses (good), songs without catchy choruses (bad), instrumentals (depends on my mood). Yngwie's albums have, on average, three instrumentals, this one is no exception: "Bite The Bullet," "Krakatau" (Yngwie must have seen the name in the atlas), and "Memories." Good stuff from the era of glam.
THE SEVENTH SIGN (1994)
RATING: ****1/2
BEST SONGS: "Never Die," title track, "Bad Blood"
Yes, 90s Malmsteen appeals to me a lot more than 80s Malmsteen. The sound is heavier and more "metal," songs are punchier and livelier, and vocalists are better. Mike Vescera is one sharp singer, when he is on top of his game, his voice can cut through glass in the same way as Crimson Glory's Midnight could. It begins with a great straight-ahead rocker, "Never Die," followed by Yngwie's experimentation with weird sounds in "I Don't Know." As you can tell from these two titles, Yngwie is looking for lyrical inspirations in Ozzy and Black Sabbath. Add the title track to this one ("Seventh Star"?). Musically, of course, he is quite unique. "Meant To Be," "Hairtrigger," "Bad Blood" ("bad, bad, bad blo-o-od!"), and "Crash And Burn" (kinda silly) are all good pieces. Album's highest point is, undoubtedly, the outstanding title track, mostly due to the excellent vocal melodies by Vescera: "World at war! Rich and poor! Burn in hell! Hear doomsday bell! Ringing loud! We have made Lucifer so proud! Blind leading the blind, no one sees the seventh sign!" His voice is both sharp and heavy, like a broadsword. "Pyramid Of Cheops" is a mandatory epic, with lots of Eastern melodies, and Yngwie demonstrates (for a millionth time) why he is adored by thousands of fans. Hell yes, this album has solos! Tons of them, and instrumentals "Brothers" and "Sorrow" ("SOLLOW"?) are nothing but scales, arrpeggios, and a variety of leads, but the songwriting is strong as well. Besides Vescera, the lineup features Mike Terrana (drums, later in Rage) and Mats Olausson (keys, later in Ark).
ALCHEMY (1999)
RATING: ****1/2
BEST SONGS: "Wield My Sword," "Legion Of The Damned," "Hangar 18, Area 51"
The first thing that makes this album special is that it does not have Yngwie's face on the cover. This is a slightly heavier version of Seventh Sign, a good thing in my eyes and ears. Opening instrumental "Blitzkrieg" is my favorite Yngwie's instrumental, it's just vicious. Then comes in Mark Boals. Where did this man learn to sing between Trilogy and Alchemy, I don't know, but he improved DRASTICALLY. "Leonardo" is a good Renaissance-style mid-tempo piece, with background chanting in Latin. On this album, Yngwie shares bass-playing with Barry Dunaway, while John Macaluso (drums) and Mats Olausson (keys) -- both guys now in Ark -- create the rhythm and the atmosphere. After "Leonardo," butt-kicking takes a backseat, with "Playing With Fire" and "The Stand" are slower, solo-crazy pieces. Then comes one of my favorite YJM tunes, "Wield My Sword." I don't care about phallic symbols, the chorus to this song simply rocks: "I will die for my king and my land / but I must die with my sword in my hand! / Raise the cup in honor of the lord! / Gives the power I need to WIELD MY SWOOOOOOOOOAAAARD!!" Mr. Boals reaches absolutely inhuman heights, way cool. "Legion Of The Damned" is a standard anti-war rocker, "Demon Dance" is a lift off both "Never Die" from Seventh Sign and its own direct follow-up, "Hangar 18, Area 51," which is also a great song. I don't understand why one would put two songs with nearly identical choruses right after another. Funny sounds in "Voodoo Nights" are also cute. For a man who wears such a huge cross, Yngwie is surely fascinated with the occult (see "Disciples of Hell"). Album-concluding, three-part "Asylum" is Yngwie's another travel into the world of classically-inspired instrumentals. Great sound, great production, great musicianship, great vocals, great songs. A good album to start (or end?) your Yngwie collection with.
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