Trilogy --- Yngwie Malmsteen --- 1986 (Polydor)
Considered by many of his peers to be one of the best guitarists in the world, Yngwie Malmsteen's primary influence on his music is not Jimmy Page, or Eric Clapton, or even Jimi Hendrix. He's a great admirer of nineteenth century violinist Niccolo Paganini, and it's this classical influence that characterises and sets his particular brand of music apart from other rock guitarists. In fact, he has been credited with pioneeering the style of guitar playing known as “shred”, among whose proponents are counted the likes of Steve Vai, Randy Rhoads and of course Buckethead.
Starting off with “You don't remember, I'll never forget” (also the longest title on the album), it's pretty much a keyboard-driven song, with powerful vocals by Mark Boals, of Royal Hunt, Seven the Hardway AND Ring of Fire, the keys handled by Jens Johansson. There are brief flashes of the brilliance later evidenced on the album by Yngwie here, but they're sort of held in check for now.
A quick word for the cool cover: Yngwie shooting an attacking dragon with his Fender. Awesome, as they say. But back to the music, and “Liar” is a faster track, with furious drumming by Jens' brother, Anders, and some great guitar, as you might expect, from Yngwie. The classical influence is very clear here, and Boals sounds like Ronnie James Dio at his very peak. There's a lot of anger in the lyric to this song, not surprisingly with a title like that.
”You smile in my face/ When I turn around/ You stick a knife in my back/ You think you're clever/ You know you're insane/ Your lies are not white/ They are black.” Okay, so the lyric is weak, but hey, listen to that guitar!
“Queen in love” is more a crunching rocker, slower but no less heavy, and more guitar-led this time, while the real standout is “Crying”, five minutes of pure guitar Heaven from Yngwie, a slow, classical piece with sparse accompanying organ and percussion. You can just see him sitting on a chair, bathed in a blue spotlight on stage, shaking his head and making those funny/tortured/ecstatic faces guitarists do when they're really into their songs. This is where Yngwie really comes into his own and shows what he can do when let loose. Great stuff.
It's back to the shredding then for “Fury”, Anders Johansson again punching out a steamhammer beat on his skins, Yngwie playing faster than it seems human fingers can move. “Fire” gives centre stage to Jens' keyboards, and comes across as almost Foreigner AOR, quite commercial. Elements of heavier Journey in there too, circa “Frontiers”. Speeding back up then for “Magic mirror”, with the spotlight firmly back on Yngwie's shredding guitar work, and slowing right down for another cruncher in “Dark ages”, with some great keyboard work by Jens. Very much a Dio feel about this one.
And finally we're into the centrepiece, and indeed the title track. “Trilogy Suite Op. 5” is a total Malmsteen-fest, with the man absolutely working his fingers off in a seven-minute display of every facet of his considerable skill, from furiously fast shredding to delicate classical guitar-picking, to chug-along soloing, with help from Jens on keyboards and Anders on drums. But this is Yngwie's show, and he is the consummate showman, secure if not smug in his expertise, perhaps a little narcissistic, but then, with talent like his, we can allow that.
I'll be totally honest: although I really like this album, there's no doubting that the songs on it are not right up there with the best. In many cases they're mediocre at best, formulaic and trite, but behind it all shines the blinding sun of Yngwie Malmsteen's amazing skill on the guitar. Listen to it just for that and you won't be disappointed. Hey, someone's gotta do the heavy lifting, right? We can't all be genius....
TRACKLISTING
1. You don't remember, I'll never forget
2. Liar
3. Queen in love
4. Crying
5. Fury
6. Fire
7. Magic mirror
8. Dark ages
9. Trilogy Suite Op. 5
Suggested further listening: “Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra in E Minor”