Yngwie Malmsteen

[rogue27]

I heard a tiny bit of Yngwie Malmsteen stuff, and the one or two tracks I heard were pretty good in terms of guitar playing.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has a suggestion on what would be a good Yngwie Malmsteen CD to get... or should I stay away from them? I see many people seem to dislike him a lot.

any opinions would be appreciated.

 

[moonchild]

the only malmsteen album i've got is war to end all wars, it's ok not great, the guitar playing is good but the vocals are pretty average and the lyrics are pretty bad and theres even a reggae type song, black sheep of the family which just makes me cringe, but then when you buy a malmsteen cd its not really the vocals or lyrics you buy it for...

 

[Misanthrope]

Man that guy its so overrated. He is fairly good at playing guitar and electric guitar tehcniques. The true masters of guitars are on classical guitars i do not care how many sweeps or leggatos Yngwie Malmsteen can do in half a second he still sounds like the soundtrack of F-Zero ( the snes game ).

 

[Ihsahn]

Yes, I agree with you Misanthrope. He is very overrated. Alot of his stuff sounds the same too. Anyways, all I have is Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force. Its pretty good. My fave is that Icarus Dream Suite song. The other are good too, but I wouldnt buy more than one album. I'd rather get Steve Vai or Buckethead.

 

[SentencedToBurn]

he is pretty good at playing guitar but i agree that he is over-rated. I heard he is a real dick to people to. like he thinks hes the shit and everything. i dont like people like that and i dont have any of his albums. id say he is very good at guitar though

 

[yourdeadgroom]

Ok, ignore the above posts. Yngwie is bloody brilliant. Alot of people say he plays the same thing over and over, but if you actually sit down and analyze it, it's all different- sure, some things are similar, but I personally find it interesting to see the variations he comes up with. And hey, when you play that fast, you run out of different notes to play pretty quickly
If you can't handle power metal with high vocals, avoid him!! Unless of course you dig classical music, then check out his concerto with the Prauge Philharmonic (I probably spelt that wrong, but it's a Russian orchestra). Very very cool.
As for albums to check out.......
If you want a more instrumental album, go for 'Rising Force' (his first one). Only 2 songs with vocals on them, the rest are just him shredding, it's a great album. His next one, 'Marching Out' is probably his heaviest, it's got some killer riffs and I think he plays his fastest on this album. My personal fav is 'Magnum Opus' (which Yngwie has since said he doesn't like ), got Mike Vescera (sp?) on vocals, it's very cool. The one after that, 'Facing the Animal' is also good, it's the most varied album he's done, got some cool bluesy numbers, and for once in his life he wrote some really solid songs (not to say that the rest of his songs suck, because they don't. There are many that affect me deeply, but it's safe to say he ain't gonna win any awards for song writing ). Albums to avoid (for your first time out): Odyssey (cool, but Joe Lynne Turner on vocals is a wuss), Eclipse (I love this album, but the vocals may put you off), Fire & Ice (again, not bad but probably his cheesiest album. A couple of really good songs though), and Alchemy (just doesn't do it for me).
Actually, may be worth checking out the last live album he did (forget the name), he's always better live, the emotion comes through alot better, and it'll give a good overview of his songs.

Yngwie does suffer from a big head somewhat, but he does get slammed unneccessarily (sp? I just know I spelt that wrong ). I'd elaborate, but I can't be bothered defending him. I like him and that's all that matters to me. I think that's it's funny how he evokes such strong reactions from people- they either hate him strongly, or love him to death. Must mean that he's actually doing something good, despite people saying he's over rated. If anything, I'd say he's underrated, his main market is Japan. The rest of the world (well ok, europe likes him too ) should wake up

 

[Soul Forlorn]

I wouldn't say Yngwie is overrated. He actually gets a lot of shit (granted, he brings it on himself by acting like a prick so often). A lot of people say he's overrated because he limits himself in terms of his style so much. Most of his music revolves around classic metal progressions and he rarely strays from that too much, therefore he ends of repeating a lot of stuff and ends up sounding sort of cliche. I have no doubt, though, that he could do just about anything on a guitar. The guy is a fuckin musical genius and a fucking guitar god! Just because he loves playing his particular style and feels no desire to do anything else makes him no less a guitarist. If he's so overrated, then how many of you or how many people do you know have the chops, the ability, the knowledge, and the showmanship that he has. Don't start listing famous names either. I admit that there are others out there that are probably better. I'm just saying give the guy some credit! He's a pioneer, a legend, and inspiration to countless numbers of guitarists over the last 2 decades.

As a recommendation I would say get his first one. I think it's simply entitled "Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force". It's mostly instrumentals and is a classic.

 

[Misanthrope]

I have no doubt, though, that he could do just about anything on a guitar. The guy is a fuckin musical genius and a fucking guitar god!

Andres Segovia its a guitar god. If Malmsteen its so great and COULD play something original why does he not ? One wonders....

 

[Soul Forlorn]

Andres Segovia its a guitar god. If Malmsteen its so great and COULD play something original why does he not ? One wonders....

Ever think maybe he truly enjoys the style he plays in? And oh, by the way, the guy practically invented that style so I'd say that's fairly original! And yes, I agree Segovia is a guitar god too...

 

[yourdeadgroom]

Just like to back up with Soul Forlorn's comments with a hearty "Couldn't agree more!!"

Well said.

Yngwie plays the music he loves. He doesn't need to sell-out to prove anything.

Do wish he'd try death metal though, he'd be utterly devestating

 

[Soul Forlorn]

Do wish he'd try death metal though, he'd be utterly devestating

Ah, wouldn't that be cool! I can almost picture a sort of early Dark Tranquility on mega super power Yngwie steroids!!! Awesome!!!

I just wish he'd get a good vocalist and lay off the cheesy lyrical topics a bit. I don't mind most power metal style vocals but it seems like he's always reached in the bottom of the barrel to find his vocalists.

 

[Misanthrope]

So he was original when he started. Does not makes him original this days. To me all heavy metal has a serious problem of deep musical evolution. Shure they evolve but within very small limits as you mentioned. I rather have an average on skill but amazing on musical evolution Sundin than a guitar god in skill but a retard in musical evolution like Malmsteen. Fast notes swepts crazy multistring tapping patterns dont make you a great musician. Making something out of the notes even if its plain tremolo picking single notes makes you a good musician it has more merit to it. It takes a talented person to be technically amazing but it takes a gifted person to be musically amazing.

 

[Soul Forlorn]

I'm sure that if you were to take the time to thoroughly analyze Malmsteen's music you'd find that he does "make something out of the notes" and you'd find overall that there is much more to offer than what you may have noticed at first glance. I suspect most of those who don't respect Malmsteen have only "casually listened" to his music and/or have little musical and metal history knowledge. Anyway, I won't argue this topic any further. I'm just repulsed when I hear disrespect for a legend, and innovator, and an inspiration.

 

[Misanthrope]

hehe
You seem to take it too personal indeed.

 

[godmachine12]

Originally posted by Misanthrope

If Malmsteen its so great and COULD play something original why does he not ? One wonders....

Hahaha....He is very talented no question, but his stuff really doesn't appeal to me. Like someone else said, I prefer Steve Vai. I heard War to End All Wars and it sounded like it was recorded in a garage or something. It was a pile of crap. The vocals were horrible, the lyrics were even worse, and the guitar was just awful sounding. I was very, very disappointed since all I had heard was good things about it.

n/p: Keith Caputo-Died Laughing

 

[rogue27]

well, I heard War to end all wars was terrible... in an interview with Mikael from Opeth...

poor production quality, and a reggae song... *shakes his head*

I think I'll try Rising Force and see how it is.

Thanks for the input everyone!