 YNGWIE MALMSTEEN'S RISING FORCE 'WAR TO END ALL
WARS'
(DREAM CATCHER)Yngwie Johan Malmsteen was born
on June 30th 1963, his family were very musically
motivated and from the age of seven, Malmsteen became
influenced by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and by the time
he was twelve Yngwie was already into taking classical
guitar lessons. At fourteen Malmsteen discovers Deep
Purple's 'Fireball' album and starts writing his own
material and in 1983 he joins Steeler of which he
recorded an album. Later that year he teamed up with
Graham Bonnet in Alcatrazz and recorded two albums 'No
Parole From Rock And Roll' and 'Live Sentence' before
venturing out on his own with his debut self titled
Rising Force album of which the vocals were handled by
the then unknown Jeff Scott Soto. Next came 'Marching
Out' followed swiftly the following year by the classic
'Trilogy' opus. This was the first album to mark the
debut of singer Mark Boals.
Then came Yngwie's big break with the album 'Odyssey'
with Joe Lynn Turner, this was the album that made the
public aware of Malmsteen's capabilities, 'Odyssey' was a
more streamlined album that sold well right across the
globe.
'Eclipse' then followed with ex Madison singer Goran
Edman on the mic, whilst his next release 'Fire And Ice'
was a very classical and commerical sounding record,
which was then followed by 'The Seventh Sign' which saw
Mike Vescera joining the team, 'Magnum Opus',
'Inspirations', 'Facing The Animal' and 'Alchemy'
followed with various videos and compilations cd's also
being released over the years.
A dream was fulfilled in 1998 with perhaps Malmsteen's
ultimate album 'Concerto Suite' which saw him really
explore his classical influences with the backing of a
full orchestra and is an album I still play to this day.
So Malmsteen seems to be on a bit of roll these days,
expressing his musical abilities as far as they will
stretch to a somewhat satisfying effect. His latest suite
'War To End All Wars' is a particularly engaging album
featuring the wonderful vocal talents of Mark Boals. The
only problem I can really find with 'War To End All Wars'
is the production quality which really spoils the albums
feel and makes some of the songs sound of demo quality,
given Yngwie's pedigree in the rock field, one would have
thought he would have polished this album up and taken
care of things - add to the fact that this is an
important album for Malmsteen as Spitfire Records are
giving this album a full US release, one wonders why the
label would let an album of this standard out, so be
warned, even so 'W.T.E.A.W' features the usual
technically complexed structures blended in with
symphonic neo-classical passages taken right out of
Beethoven and Mozart's book, such as on the first song
'Prophet Of Doom' which is a mindblowing neo-classical
shred fest, but it's not just about how fast Malmsteen
shreds, the song and it's lyrical content compliment
Malmsteen's expert wizardry.
The next song goes back to the style heard on 'Fire And
Ice', 'Crucify' epically pounds along in typical
Malmsteen style, Yngwie makes use of the sitar throughout
this song whilst Boals really puts in some heavy
performances, the whole song sounds really massive and
interesting and is destined to become one of Yngwie's
many classic songs in years to come.
'Catch 22' opens up with insane thrashy drum pounding
from John Macaluso, 'Catch 22' is a heavier sounding
track that shows bands like Rhapsody etc how it's really
done.
Another strong and effective number is the quite glorious
'Bad Reputation', Boals' soaring vocals are remisant of
Joe Lynn Turner, this song grows into a killer hard rock
song that is easy to singalong to and also features
classical interpretations.
'Masquerade' like 'Bad Reputation' leans towards a more
commercial style, the whole song is brilliant with the
whole band firing on all cylinders, 'Masquerade' is
another of my favourite tracks.
'Molto Arpeggiosa' is next and as you have guessed this
is an impressive instrumental, this is one of those songs
that makes you realise why Yngwie has been a major
innovator on so many players, his use of classical
elements against the context of the rock book is pretty
admirable, and his playing on this song is quite
exciting. A beautiful ballad called 'Miracle Of Life'
soars with passionate vocals from Boals and is a
profoundly touching experience with it's heartfelt
melodies, also impressive is 'The Wizard', a typical
Malmsteen stomper highlighted by the aggressive guitar
tone, whilst the slightly calmer 'Tarot' is another
perfectly attractive song, as is the title track and
'Black Sheep Of The Family' which experiments with funky
regge parts etc a'la Bob Marley and Sting!!!
Malmsteen may suffer from an egotastic reputation, but
when you turn out instrumental parts like 'Instrumental
Institution' and 'Preludium' that greet listeners with
violins and orchestral like passages and fast arpeggio
sections that break into a hard hitting progressive
compositions called 'Wild One', you realise that Yngwie
pilots a unique quality that is untouchable, Yngwie
deserves more recognition than what he gets, because of
his diversity he is perhaps an easy target for the press
to attack as his music is tough to write about, with the
only flaw here being the aforemention production sound,
had the care been taken, then this reocrd would have been
an utter masterpiece, which is such a pitty and a major
let down, I think it's time Yngwie bought in an outside
producer, his guitar playing as always is fantastic, but
he's not a very good engineer and producer, regardless of
what critics may say Malmsteen will continue as always to
pour out the music he himself loves, you can't argue at
that, let's prey that Yngwie will learn from these
mistakes and lets hope that his next album will rise his
ever ensuing popularity even higher. Roll on the tour!!
Rating: 8/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)
|
SURRENDER 'FULL CIRCLE' 
SHOOTING STAR 'LEAP OF FAITH' (V
& R RECORDS)
WESTWORLD 'SKIN' (ROADRUNNER)
TIGRIS 'TIGRIS' 
PROSPECT 'PROGRESSIVE FORCE'
(INDEPENDENT)
ROB BROWN 'RB3/THE MAN OF THE
HOUSE' (INDEPENDENT)
FAIR GAME 'BEAUTY AND THE
BEAST' (METAL MAYHEM MUSIC)
WHITE WIDOW 'TURN IT UP'
MELODICA 'ACOUSTICA'
(FRONTIERS/NOW AND THEN RECORDS)
YNGWIE MALMSTEEN'S RISING FORCE 'WAR TO END ALL
WARS' 
EMPYRIA 'THE LEGACY'
(NIGHTMARE RECORDS)