Artist: Yngwie Malmsteen
Label: Polygram
Release Date: 1984
Rating: 3 Skulls
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Title: Rising Force Artist: Yngwie Malmsteen Label: Polygram Release Date: 1984
Rating: 3 Skulls |
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Reviewed by Musashi:
Wow! I can't believe it's been fifteen years! I remember bringing the album home from the store and putting it on my record player and thinking my record player was on the wrong speed. Just prior to that I was of the mind that Eddie Van Halen was God's gift to the guitar. My friend had just seen Yngwie and couldn't stop talking about it. I had to hear for myself what all the excitement was about. In my wildest dreams I could not have imagined what was pressed into that vinyl disc.There are few albums which change the way we understand music and inspire so much imitation; Rising Force is one of those monumental albums. It is in the same category as Are You Experienced?, Van Halen, and Led Zeppelin.
It is easy to criticise Yngwie for doing nothing more that fusing Bach, Paganini and Deep Purple together into an ear-bleeding concoction, but he was the first person to do it so convincingly. He really created a new sound. He updated ancient ideas and brought them to the modern listener. What do I mean by ancient ideas? Church music. That's right, churches were built on a grand scale and church organs were built as big as can be so that mere mortals were in awe of their grandure. It was formidable, yet inspiring at the same time. Imagine you were walking around back in 1650 and walked into a big cathedral in Germany and heard a Bach fugue blaring out of the huge organ pipes. You'd be in awe. You'd probably think to yourself, "There is a God and he is pretty damn impressive." I think that was the type of awe-inspiring feel Yngwie was going for. Instead of pipe organs he used Strats through Marshall stacks. I must say I was impressed.
I know it wasn't just me because it wasn't long before everyone had a new vocabulary that included words like "arpeggio," "Paganini," and "harmonic minor." Luthiers were making money scalloping fretboards. Kids were finally using metronomes.
Like any great guitarist, Yngwie not only had a style, he had a SOUND. You could hear an Yngwie recording and know it was him: the Strat blaring through the Marshalls, cranked to 11. The sound of his fingers, the buzz of the amps, the flick of the switch as he switched pickups and the sound of the pick against the strings.
He had technique unparalleled at that time. No one could play as fast and as cleanly, and also play lines with meaning. He didn't just do rambling pentatonic runs that made no sense. He would play long lines up and down the neck that made Harmonic Sense. He would play melodies.
Yngwie was no mere automaton: he had soul! What a vibrato! At times it was subtle, sometimes it was powerful and in your face. He could really make the guitar speak in all its many voices: soft and lilting to a howling fury.
Rising Force was a classic first album: raw, intense, and unforgiving. Years of practice and struggle culminated in a recording of monumental proportions. Rising Force captures an Yngwie that was young, hungry, cocky and itching to be the hottest guitar hero of his generation. (huh, huh, I said "cocky" and "itching" in the same sentence.)
Rising Force is one of my favorite albums of all time. Looking back on my life as a musician, there are few albums which had such a profound impact on my life. I still think it has more balls than ninety percent of the CDs that find their way into my CD player. I've described some albums as having what's know as "The Extra Testicle." Rising Force has got a pair to spare. 5 skulls, at least!
I'll leave the discussion of what went wrong with Yngwie for the web board...
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