Search - Yngwie Malmsteen :: Magnum Opus

This is one of my favorites

krakatau | 06/20/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I don't understand why some fans don't like Magnum Opus. I guess if you want something with the fire of Seventh Sign, you should listen to Seventh Sign. Magnum Opus is not the most boisterous of all Yngwie's albums, and I doubt it was intended to be. The songs on this album have more of a grandiouse feel to them. "Time will tell", "No love lost", "Voodoo", and "I'd die for you" have a great mystical feel that cannot be paralleled by most artists. "Cross the line" and "Fire in the sky" are great rockers. Critics should give this album a chance."

A quality release

Paul Lawrence | Australia | 08/12/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"At a time when his brand of metal was at it's most hated Yngwie ploughed on regardless. Which not only shows his passion for his chosen subgenre but also a defiant belief in his own abilities and those of his bandmates.



I actually picked this up at Utopia Records - metal haven of Sydney, Australia and mentioned to the my girlfriend of the time what each track would sound like before even listening to it. And you know what - I got 'em all right. That's both good and bad, Yngwie either being in a rut or having built a solid reputation and expectation in his fans. He once said that he wanted his albums to be like AC/DC records in that his fans knew what they were getting. Well, mission accomplished dude.



While painstakingly smooth in execution and with a note perfect rendition of every seconds worth of time, this is actually a fairly strong collection of song based material. The opener, Vengeance, is a little dull musically but No Love Lost is a real barnstormer. The album starts to suffer in the middle, a couple of ballads sapping the listeners will to live though things pick up with the instrumental Overture 1612 which has some blistering runs.



In fact this instrumental sort of separates what I always thought of as side one and side two of this disc. And the second half of the album is, strangely, far stronger and the real reason to pick up this album. Voodoo is a track where Michael Vescera really asserts himself and this track is dominated by the journeyman vocalists talents. Cross the Line is another mid paced rocker which does the job at hand, as does Time Will Tell and Fire in the Sky which has some interesting spark.



Really these tracks represent the best quartet of songs lined up in a row on virtually any post Eclipse Yngwie album. And with No Love Lost and the tasty instrumental Overture 1612 this album was a bit of a pleasant surprise given how poor I was expecting it to be, expecially given the annoying pompous original cover art.



On this album Malmsteen has shown an ability to share the limelight with long time collaborator Vescera and put in some different touches such as the use of sitars and at times deliberately slowing the tempo of the tracks from his usual pace in order to build a groove with a sense of space while also giving long time fans just what they want."

Magnifique

Sursubbu | India | 05/07/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an excellent effort by that infinite genius. Magnum Opus features some fantastic songs like Vangeance, Voodoo and Time will tell. Even an ordinary ballad like I'd die without you is given a sterling edge by the power of Malmsteen's soloing. But the real classic on this album, is the instrumental Amberdawn. This single track one of the saddest and most beautiful tracks I've heard itself justifies the buying of this album."