Search - Yngwie J. Malmsteen :: Trilogy

Great set of solos, and it ROCKS! A true gem!

I. MUNOZ | Montreal, PQ, Canada | 10/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I won't give to this album five stars just because this was the first album I heard from Yngwie and I was completely blown away by his guitar fireworks. No! Instead, I will give five stars to this album because it contains a subset of the greatest solos Yngwie ever spitted in the middle of his songs. From the expressive-but-flashy ones on "You don't remember I never forget" and "Queen in Love", the furious guitar-keyboard lines in "Liar" and "Fury", the beautifully dark solo in "Dark Ages", to the meaningful and tastefully neoclassic solo on "Fire"; Yngwie showcases here why he was one of the greatest gunslingers (if not the greatest!) in the middle eighties.



And if good, impeccably played solos weren't enough to earn five stars, then I'll add that the opener "You don't remember I never forget", as cheesy as it gets, is one of Yngwie's catchiest songs ever. Also, listen to "Queen in love". Isn't that one a memorable song too? Ok, Mark Boals perhaps doesn't sound like Jeff Scott Soto (matter of taste!), but he still does know how to sing. And he sings GREATLY here. Mark Boals is a top metal vocalist for sure! And what about the Johansson brothers on the keys and the drums respectively? These guys add a lot to this very tight incarnation of Rising Force, just to deliver the goods with high energy and professionalism. Five stars to the band as to the album!



But wait, there's even more to "Trilogy". For example, do you still think that Yngwie is just about a flurry of notes? Well, I'm afraid you are WRONG! Yngwie has a lot of feeling too, as well as a great control of dynamics, a great lead tone and a great finger vibrato. You could still listen to any solo from this album to see what I mean, but I'll instead make a special mention to the masterpiece "Crying". You listen to that instrumental song, and only a deaf would come back to talk again about "emotionless playing" and "Yngwie" on the same sentence. "Crying" says it all, as the guy goes from a gentle weeping to a total anguished crying at the end. Yngwie Malmsten was the real deal back then, believe me!



Thus, no matter how egocentric Yngwie might look (or really be), I give credit to him for redefining what metal lead guitar is about. For the dessert, just have a listen to "Trilogy Suite Op. 5" to taste how the scariest guitar chops a human being can play are put to work for a true musical opus. Nowadays Yngwie might have ruled out of ideas, but in the eighties he was the man, no doubt about it. Just listen to the "Trilogy" album on its entirety to confirm that fact. Five shiny shredding stars!"

From Little Viking to Dwarf

Octavius | United States | 04/08/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Yngwie's third album is just abysmal in comparison to what he had produced before and just isn't worth buying in my opinion.



The music just becomes more formulaic in terms of technique and the lyrics are just cheesy. 'Queen is in Love'? The song makes even Journey sound heavy. 'The Fury' is ok and so are the instrumentals but none measure up to what he had produced on his two previous albums. 'Magic Mirror' sounds like a song from a Disney cartoon. Malmsteen just leaves no space for talent other than his own and he doesn't show much of it on this album. DeSoto never wanted to be a metal singer and was looking for a gig as a power rock singer to the likes of Survivor: it sounds like it. I had the unique opportunity of seeing Malmsteen perform while touring for this album. Great soloist without question but having a band is just that: being a band and not just a soloist. That's why Satriani, McAlpine, etc., never made it anywhere either. I also saw Malmsteen perform as a stand in with Dio in Irvine and he sounded great. He would have been a perfect replacement for Vivian Campbell. It would have made for an interesting collaboration but I don't think the egos of either performer would have gotten along: too bad.



Ultimately, the main impediment to Yngwie's success was his overwhelming ego at wanting to be the whole band and trying to turn metal into classical. And so, true to his Swedish pseudonym of 'Yngwie', he ended up remaining just that: just a 'little viking.' In this album he's acutally a dwarf Viking."

Album 3 of Yngwie's real Trilogy

CJ | Georgia, USA | 07/08/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although this album is named for the masterpiece instrumental that ends it, I think of it as the 3rd album of Yngwie's Trilogy of Master Albums that started with Rising Force, was followed by Marching Out and finally this one.



There are several things that changed in his life after this, among them the pressure to reach a larger worldwide audience that resulted in a more commercial sound on the next 2 studio albums (Odyssey and Eclipse) and the knowledge that he was for a time one of the most admired and copied guitarists in the world, which was by then full of imitators, which did nothing to shrink his considerable ego. Yngwie was also hurt in a major race car accident after making this but before Odyssey, although that sure as hell didn't slow him down for long, he came out playing faster than ever! But on the first 3 albums, there is no question his licks and compositions were fresher and seemed to have limitless potential. They became much more repetitive after he made Trilogy.



I even love the over-the-top cover art, he must have thought of himself as nothing short of heroic (never been known for modesty) and undoubtedly came up with that idea himself! Very bold lol.......



If you have any Yngwie albums, you should absolutely have the first 3."