Year: 2021
Total Time: 56:29
Label: Music Theories Recording
Swedish guitar virtuoso Yngwie J. Malmsteen continued during the 1980s many of the trends explored by Blackmore, Van Halen and R. Rhoads and took some of them to unprecedented extremes. Upon the release of his U.S. debut album “Rising Force” in 1984, which won him Guitar Player’s “Best New Talent” award that year and “Best Rock Guitarist” in 1985, Malmsteen quickly gained a reputation as the foremost of metal’s neo-classicists. Malmsteen adapted classical music with more thoroughness and intensity than any previous guitarist and he expanded the melodic and harmonic language of metal while setting even higher standards of virtuosic precision. (Walser, R. (1992). Eruptions: Heavy Metal Appropriations of Classical Virtuosity. Popular Music, 11(3), 263-308.
I want you to think of this musician while you read this article. One of the most (if not the most) influential metal guitarist of the 1980s and the composer of “Black Star”, “I am a Viking”, “You don’t remember, I’ll never forget, “Liar”, “Déjà vu”, “Icarus Dream Suite”, “Queen in Love”, “Far Beyond the Sun”, “I’ll see the light, tonight”. I’d like you to keep in mind that we’re talking about a legend, a living part of the heavy metal history.
Setting aside the somewhat cheesy artwork (Malmsteen’s auctioning the original portrait to support foster children, so I guess it’s OK?), his 22nd studio album “Parabellum” is somewhat a “back to the roots” endeavor. We have three songs: “Wolves at the Door”, “(Fight) the Good Fight” and “Relentless Fury” and the rest of the album is instrumental.
I’ve tried numerus times to listen to the album at its entirety from start to finish but it was impossible. The lack of imagination, the repeated musical clichés, the soloing that seemed never ending based on tiresome bass ostinati without any reason to exist at all, forced me to cut into chunks the Master’s new album and listen to it in 3 sessions just to finish my review and out of pure respect of who Y.J. Malmsteen used to be.
Many reviewers have written that the guitar work in Parabellum is “phenomenal”. I believe they mean that the man can still play his signature licks at the same speed he used to in his previous albums. But the compositions, the orchestration and everything in this album in general is so mediocre (at the very best!). As a fan and as a musician I felt insulted by Parabellum. I have the impression that the album took Y.J. Malmsteen 3 days to compose and record. And that’s why I’m giving it 3/10, one point for every hard-working day.
Rating: 3/10
Editor: Yiannis Tziallas
Related Link: Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Official Page
