Year: 2021
Label: Music Theories Recordings
Home: n/a
Members: Yngwie Malmsteen ~ all instruments
Ten tracks of everything you expect from Yngwie: classically fused speed of light guitar runs. Its really hard to say much else about an Yngwie album. You know what you get when you get one & they are all in the same mold, even if the promo materials promise something different. You either love him, or hate him, or find him talented but lacking restraint. Speaking of hate, I'm sure his former vocalists hate him completely after the criticisms he's lodged at them after discovering his ego wasn't the biggest or only one in the room they didn't kiss his ass, thus Yngwie has taken to being his own vocalist once again. I doubt anyone wants to sing with him, or if they do they know how it will end. Its too bad, as his vocals I found to be a weak spot of his last outing. Here he's trying to improve things with multiple backing tracks, reverb & studio gimmicks, but the fact is unavoidable that he has an adequate voice & limited range that doesn't add anything unique to the music. Its one step from a guide vocal by anonymous session backing vocalist, only made worse by the fact every song sounds alike. I want to take the lyrics from one song & put them on another just to see if they are as interchangeable as I feel they are. He needs a strong vocalist. Luckily, many of the tracks here are instrumentals. He should get some new kid, like a JSS, to sing who needs the career boost. While he's at it: get a band. Drum machines, keyboards & bass playing that is fast but not particularly interesting - as guitarists do not think like bassists, & this is why they are not necessarily interchangeable roles - doesn't give him the foundation that his flights of speed need. The backing instruments are purely sound effects, adding nothing to the experience. Its like he's noodling over demo tracks. Given outside his lead guitar the rest of the instruments sounded muddy or poorly mixed, the feeling of them being demos never left me even after repeated listens. He should take a page from Steve Vai, whose band is hot & stellar & are interacting with him as much as supporting him. Moving on, versus hanging around talking about the same thing without going anywhere ... which sorta summarizes the Yngwie style ... promo materials say Yngwie literally killed nineteen guitars during rehearsals & seventy-four in the making of the album. Quite literally killed them due to excessive friction from his fingerwork. That's cool, & an expensive investment, but its not like you're hearing any of that on the album. So, its irrelevant, but that's essentially the selling point of the album cause Yngwie isn't really offering the listener much else, has no top notch band, no distinctive songs or stand-out moments. As for those seventy-four guitars, you really only hear one at a time, or I believe they are double tracked to the point of sounding like a single instrument most of the time. I can't help but think of Steve Howe's solo albums. He can solo into infinity like Yngwie, has the classical rock touch, the collection of guitars, & shouldn't sing but does, yet I'd recommend any of his albums over this. For the simple reason that he layers guitars on top of guitars & makes these little sound landscapes that are all over the place. You never know what you are getting with him, even on a single album. Maybe a re-interpretation of a Yes or Asia song, maybe something from his solo catalog, maybe a popular tune given a new twist. He is just as self-indulgent, but he keeps things interesting & unpredictable. Here essentially Yngwie has one guitar line just running up & down endlessly over & over, with a bland rhythm section & some keyboards that are obviously there to fill in the space. For a master guitarist, why not add some guitar rhythms instead of keyboards? Also, I'm reminded of the fact that Howe sometimes plays chords & not just licks. I'd love to hear some chords here. Or, why not do some dueling leads like something Ronnie Wood & Keith Richards might do? I'm also reminded of jazz pianist Bill Evans' solo albums where he overdubbed multiple pianos to play duets with himself. For a master player, it really feels like Yngwie doesn't have that many tricks up his sleeve but one run over & over & over for twenty-something albums. At least change the tempo sometimes. Essentially, variety is what I'm saying this album lacks. There is an apparent super lack of it here. Why does he even give the songs titles, given how they all sound alike? I'm not even sure if there's multiple songs on this album or just one song with ten parts. When you compare this to B.B. King who said he only ever played about sixteen notes in his entire career, he had more in one note than Yngwie has in one bar, or one album. Not to mention, this is twenty-something albums in & Yngwie is playing is the same as always. Its like he's had no real growth or musical change. Does he even listen to music? I can't really think of any other guitarist who hasn't change. I would rename this album "Just Showing Off Vol. 20-something." I listened to this wanting something different. Why did I think that? I must have been hungover. It needs to be tightened up, a lot, & have some groove or hooks or something, as you end up feeling a little dirty. Is it morally wrong watching someone get off for an hour without ever climaxing, nor even wanting to join in the fun? The only interesting track is "Eternal Flame" which is an okay power ballad with vocals, but the last two minutes might have the most interesting (i.e. different sounding) solo on the album. The highlight is the very ending with a short nylon string guitar solo that is worth the wait. "God Particle" opens & closes with a couple nylon string guitars for over a minute. It would be perfect if Yngwie had left off the keyboards that clutter up the space by echoing the guitars & don't allow the guitars to shimmer. So close, so very close, to something really unique on an otherwise not so unique album. One fellow music reviewer described this album as background music that won't grab your attention. I have to agree. For the record, there are a few Yngwie albums I like. I can return any time to his album with Joe Lynn Turner, so I'm not one of those people who just dismiss him out of habit. He did better when he had a band adding personality. Oh, I do really like the cover. That's something. Put the album on your shelf. Look at it. There you go, you've got the best of this outing.
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