There’s no denying he is a great guitarist, and his solos and licks are unmistakable. But sooner or later he must surely come to the realization that the only people who are going to buy his albums are the ones who love his guitaring and appreciate his heavier work in songwriting and his instrumentals, and not the attempts he makes at rock ballads and radio-friendly fare.
Once again on this album, he tries to go down that road. The particular examples I am thinking of are “Alone in Paradise” and “Only The Strong”. Both are songs that turn me off his work completely. They have typical Yngwie solo break, but the ‘slow and mushy’ tone of the songs and lyrics really does stuff up an otherwise fair album.
The album is saved by songs such as “Braveheart”, “Enemy”, “My Resurrection” and the particularly excellent “Poison In My Veins”, but they don’t compare to his work in the 1980’s. Mats Leven as vocalist does an average job with the material. The late great Cozy Powell plays the drums here, and it is worth listening to this just for his drumwork. Absolutely brilliant as always.
The album can probably claim to have one of the worst covers of all time, however. Pretty hard to promote an album that looks like that!
Rating: Too much average, and not enough songs that really catch your attention. 2.5/5
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