The Second Coming - Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Masterful Rising Force

One of the constant joys of writing this blog is discovering new music. Here guest reviewer Sangmin Han enlightens me with words on a Yngwie J. Malmsteen - a musician I had never actually heard of let alone anything by him, yet shockingly (for someone who loves rock music and electric guitar) I now discover that Time magazine named him as the 9th greatest guitarist of all time in their 2009 listing! I look forward to hearing the album, so thank you Sangmin for the heads up which I hope other readers will appreciate too. Enjoy the review and get the album!

Yngwie J. Malmsteen's groundbreaking solo debut album Rising Force released on the Polydor label in 1984 heralded an electric guitar revolution which had not been seen since the days of Jimi Hendrix.

The electric guitar has not been as outstanding and awe-inspiring on any record as on this revolutionary album.

The Swedish guitar aficionado's album became the cornerstone for the baroque speed metal genre - a genre that boomed as numerous next generation guitar students copied a phenomenal guitar shredding technique Malmsteen had honed through literally finger-bleeding hard training on his Fender Stratocaster.

Fellow countryman Jens Johansson's brilliant keyboard sound adds the baroque flavour to this flashing metal album. Historically, a combination of a guitarist and a keyboard player has been the focus of a hard rock band. For instance, Jeff Beck and Jan Hammer, Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord, and Gary Moore and Don Airey were outstanding performers as famous combinations of a guitarist and a keyboardist in rock history.

Here the Yngwie/Johansson duo create a sensational musical wonder as wild and fantastic as the aforementioned legendary partnerships. The cream of the crop on Rising Force is the strong instrumental Far Beyond the Sun, which shows off all of Malmsteen's guitar talents. But it is the ongoing alternating guitar and keyboard battle between Yngwie and Jens which provides the highlights of the album.

In addition, Jeff Scott Soto, who sings on the only two songs of the album is marvellous as a metal vocalist fitting Yngwie's colourful guitar work, and Jethro Tull's Barriemore Barlow lends drums.

All in all this album is a sensational and revolutionary guitar album as well as an excellent metal band album, and has left a legacy in heavy metal lore. Anyone on the planet who cares for an electric guitar feast should own a copy.

Huge thank yous to Sangmin Han for this review. Sangmin hangs out at the excellent Krautrock Facebook Group where you can find plenty more of his mini reviews on interesting and unusual albums.