And then - the Yngwie thing happened. The Rising Force band dissolved, or imploded, or just plain fell apart following that tour. Jens and Anders Johannsen who had been long time band mates and collaborators with Yngwie, were moved on. Bob Daisley moved onto his next project. And Joe Lynn Turner, whose honeyed vocals had given the band the commercial sound that Yngwie had craved, was also gone, the two main focal points in the band unable to find a compromise where they shared the spotlight rather than crave it for themselves. On the verge of the true success that he had been searching for, Yngwie was back at square one.
Though he could well have played almost all of the instruments himself for any new album, if he was to play live, he was going to require a band, and so he went about rebuilding from the ground up. His first port of call was to find a new lead vocalist, someone who could not only try and provide the kind of vocals that he was looking for but could hopefully also be the final link in reaching that gold chalice of commercial success. His choice was to recruit Goran Edman for the role. Edman had sung on Europe guitarist John Norum’s solo album in 1987 and thus had the pedigree that could be what Yngwie was hoping for. Now all that had to occur was to write an album that could hold a candle to the success that “Odyssey” had provided, and also of course see if the band could remain together for any length of time before invoking the wrath of Yngwie Malmsteen.
The opening track on an album should always be one that is making a statement, that sets you up for what is to follow. And, obviously, in a good way, because that’s what you want from an album. “Making Love” is the opening song here for yet another new era in the Yngwie Malmsteen story, and it is... an extremely generic way of fishing for the commercial influence. It was also the lead single from the album, so you know where it is heading from the start. And if you are looking for a soft rock type of type of anthem, then you’ve come to the right place. Even Yngwie’s solo break through the middle of the song is especially designed for the soft rock scene, not the hard rock to metal neo-classical style that he had favoured in the past. It isn’t a terrible song, but it is a very different song from almost everything that had been produced before this. “Bedroom Eyes” is also the third single released from the album but has a much better feel to it immediately. There is more attitude, there is a harder riff throughout, and Edman gives us a vocal with a bit of push behind it, not a croon like the opening track. The lyrics are of the same style, and Yngwie’s solo is much more enjoyable than the opening track. To the point that when you first listen to the album, you believe that there may be some hope for it after all.
The comes “Save Our Love”, which was the second single from the album, and yes in a way you should be concerned that all three singles that were released are the first three listed tracks on the album. “Save Our Love” is a soft rock ballad of the worst kind. Now Yngwie has done these before. “Dreaming (Tell Me)” from the previous album is the best example. But Turner made it listenable. And while that’s not a criticism of Edman here, he just can’t make what is essentially a really average song any better than really average, whereas as Joe would have made it tolerable. Barely. Whereas the opening two tracks are written by Yngwie and Goran, this is solely on Yngwie’s back, and someone should have tried to talk him out of it. Maybe they did, I don’t know. “Motherless Child” bounces back in the same way that “Bedroom Eyes” did, Edman’s vocals finding the high range for the first time on the album, the music finding a far better upbeat tempo, and everything just sounds better and more like a true Yngwie track. “Devil in Disguise” drops back into a slow and moody tempo and has touches of earlier work from Yngwie in the guitaring. It’s a song that moves away from the style that has come before on this album, sets itself apart and as a result is one that keeps the interest retained throughout.
“Judas” stays in a monotone rhythm throughout, such that it could probably have just been programmed into a drum machine and synth. Nothing changes throughout the song, apart from the two Yngwie solo breaks that provide something slightly out of the box. Even Edman’s vocals barely show any change in tone or feeling. And then the same occurs again in “What Do You Want”, that same autonomous drum and bass rhythm that sticks its course over the almost four minutes of the song length. Did Yngwie just run out of ideas here for the middle of the album, and sit at home with a metronome and just find a riff that went with it? As much as the opening to the album might have caused some indecision about the album, the middle does nothing to improve it.
“Demon Driver” finally adds a bit of colour and flavour back into the album, the rise in tempo and run of keys to play off against Yngwie’s guitar bringing back the best aspects of the band’s music. Edman nails his vocals playfully, and the combination of keys and guitar gives this song the ability to bring the album back to life. Then we crash into “Faultline” which despite its descendance back to the slower groove tempo does manage to inject some great energy from Edman’s vocals, taking on the role to push through the doomier parts of the track to provide a little light to mix in with it. I didn’t ever expect Yngwie Malmsteen to be providing a track that may not be exactly doom metal but certainly has an influence of it incorporated into his neo classical state, but it is actually done reasonably well. “See You in Hell (Don’t Be Late)” once again brings back the best values of the Malmsteen sound, that faster tempo with bright vocals over the top and the keys vs guitar attack on once again. It really is a mystery that even though this must surely be the ultimate style of songs that the majority of his fans want from him, that we only get a bare few examples of it on this album. “Eclipse” closes out the album with a fairly typical Yngwie Malmsteen instrumental to finish with, and in the end the back third of this album rescues what was a quite ordinary middle section in comparison.
I have been a fan of Yngwie Malmsteen since 1986, when my heavy metal music dealer furnished me with a copy of the debut album “Rising Force” on a C60 cassette. That album was reviewed on episode 3 of this podcast back in December of 2024. Check it out, it's a cracker! The album... and the episode.
And like most other fans of the man, I adored “Odyssey” when it was released, and I listened to it for months and months. It felt like he had finally cracked the code, of heavy songs, guitar songs, commercial tracks. Perfect! Then came the dissolution, and the new band. No matter! I was really excited when this album was released. I was looking forward to what the new band was going to offer, and given the four great albums that had already been released, this one would have to be at least their equal.
Well, no. And it would be too simple an answer to just say ‘it’s the new singer’s fault!!’, which I think was actually one of the things I said at the time the album was released. Because Goran isn’t the problem here. He co-wrote four songs on this album, two of which are the better tracks here and two of which are fine. No, when it comes to an Yngwie Malmsteen album, there can generally be only one person who can take the credit when it is due and the blame when it is not. And that is the case here.
There are some reasonable songs here, but not one of them matches up to the great songs from albums of the past. None. And given his desire for success that must have been a bitter pill to swallow. The single releases were obviously designed to be exactly that, and hope that they drew new listeners into the album. But perhaps he should have been more concerned about keeping the fans he had. Because for me, the style of this album, and the initial huge disappointment I felt in it, convinced me to not buy nor listen to another Yngwie Malmsteen album for over a decade. I just gave up on him. If this was what he was going to produce, I had no interest in putting my hard earned money into buying it.
My friends and I also saw Yngwie Malmsteen live touring on this album later that year. Now Yngwie was amazing, don’t get me wrong. But they played five songs off this album, only one of which I was remotely interested in hearing. Goran Edman was extremely interested in himself, to the point that it looked as though he'd have been happier being in a menage-a'one. And although overall that concert was amazing, it was the last time that I thought I would see him play or hear other music from. That didn’t end up being the case, but it was a long time between drinks for both.
I’ve had this album out again over recent days, for one of the few times since then to be honest. I did initially have the vinyl that I bought on this album’s release, but it was lost in the flood of 2001, and I have only just recently bought the CD version to replace it. And I will say this – the album sounds terrific when you put the CD into your stereo. The songs styles may not be to my liking, but it does sound terrific. And I can tolerate this better than I could as a 20 year old who wanted something different from what was offered. Listening to it without an agenda has been fun again. But it is hard not to notice the holes, and while Yngwie will always be an amazing guitarist, sometimes his songwriting isn’t up to that task. “Eclipse” is one of those times.
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