Lose some weight, Yngwie!

As in everywhere, when he made his debut in Japan in the early 80's, Yngwie was a phenomenon. He was admired, revered and copied by many, and he was also derided by many for lack of feel, labeled as an emotionless technique-monger, and hated by press for his arrogance; I guess that must also have been the same everywhere. And I agree with most of the other reviewers' opinions, like this is him at his best, an epoch-making album in the history of rock guitar, a gem, what he used to be, and so on.

What I want to say here is, Look at this album jacket! A guitar held up by an arm with the background of furiously rising flames!? I've never seen anything like it; its simplicity, unabashed demonstration of what he is and who he is, it just makes me admire him. The image unmistakably shows his pride as a guitarist who left his own country, Sweden, the land of Vikings, to the U.S., the land of freedom and dreams, with nothing but his guitar, in pursuit of his dreams and ambitions...this is Yngwie. I love him, and hate him.

His music on this album is just exquisite. The sound of his Strat, that dry and yet somehow rich, lustrous and even erotic tone, combined with his trademark flowing phrasing, is terrific. The dramatic songs, particularly Icarus' Dream, are simply amazing. You have to remember he made this 20 years ago, when he was 20 or so.

I just wish he would have the fortune of meeting someone who destroys his too-big an ego once and for all, so that he would come out as a born-again true hero for those of us who love him but cannot help hating him for his nowadays routine, uncontrolled, self-indulgent and sometimes even ugly solos.

(CD "Rising Force" by Yngwie Malmsteen, the review originally posted on Amazon Review in 2003)