At the time Yngwie had been toying with doing a solo album away from Alcatrazz, one that would just be an instrumental album showcasing his talents. With his dismissal/departure from Alcatrazz, he now had the chance to go and do his project on his own, and not having to go along with the ideas and demands of another person. For the recording he recruited former Jethro Tull drummer Barrie Barlow and up and coming keyboardist Jens Johansson. Eventually, he also moved away slightly from this being an out-and-out instrumental album and brought in vocalist Jeff Scott Soto to lend his vocal cords to two songs of the project. They went into the studio in late 1984 to record the album, and in late 1984 it was released under the band name of Yngwie J Malmsteen’s Rising Force, with the album name simply being “Rising Force”, an apt title under the circumstances.
Reviewing an album that is almost completely full of instrumentals can be a difficult thing. Daunting even. Because my knowledge on how music is written and played is very minimal compared to my love of listening to music and knowing what I like. And this entire album is like that. And the art of making instrumental tracks that are the kind of experience that you keep coming back to time and time again is something that only the very best can do.
This album opens with two of the best when it comes to this. Both “Black Star” and “Far Beyond the Sun” are perhaps the two tracks that best define the genius that is Yngwie Malmsteen and his guitar playing. “Black Star” is the more introspective track, a more emotional playoff of Yngwie’s guitar harmonising, while “Far Beyond the Sun” is a true bombastic effort of the instrument, faster and heavier in both instances. That first ever playoff between guitar and keyboard in “Far Beyond the Sun” mirrors that of his hero Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord from the 1970’s Deep Purple albums, when those grand masters of hard rock and heavy metal used to trade solos on their instruments that were often the best parts of the songs. And while “Far Beyond the Sun” has its obvious major parts of the song concentrating on Malmsteen’s guitar, the middle part of the track where he duels with Jens Johannsen on keyboards is a delight. These are the two songs that have been a part of his set lists for the last 40 years, and as he himself has admitted, he will probably be playing them until the day he leaves our shores.
These are followed by one of only two songs on the album that contain vocals, “Now Your Ships Are Burned”, though they are very sparse with the guitar and keys still dominating the track. Jeff Scott Soto showcases the lower end of his vocal range in this song, to great effect.
The heart of the album is dominated by two songs based around classical compositions. For these two songs Yngwie has taken not only inspiration from the two compositions but has integrated them into his songs here. Firstly is “Evil Eye” which is based on Johann Krieger’s “Bourree”, which manoeuvres itself from the sublime of the original to Yngwie’s freewheeling additional guitar flair to liven the track up, including an added pace in speed to keep the fans interested in what he has achieved. Then comes the wonderful “Icarus’ Dream Suite Op. 4” based around Adagio in G minor, which I’m sure all of you musical aficionados out there will know exactly what I’m talking about. What I can tell you is that it is an excellent early example of the way Yngwie incorporates classical and complicated guitar riffing into his songs, and weaves his magic around them to create wonderful tracks
Following this, the second of two songs with vocals comes in, and in a big way. The opening organ of “As Above, So Below” sets the tone, before breaking into the opening riff, and the Jeff Scott Soto unleashes his amazing vocals na the range that he has become renown for since this album. While he kept things in check on “Now Your Ships Are Burned”, here on “As Above, So Below” he reaches for the heavens and gives us a stunning performance, suitably backed up by the keys and guitars of Johanssen and Malmsteen. The surprising subtle undertones of the rhythm under the vocals gives Soto his chance to shine without competing for air, and it works perfectly. Still one of the best Yngwie Malmsteen tracks.
Better yet, this careers into “Little Savage”, which like “Far Beyond the Sun” has a great fast tempo in the first half of the song with a terrific riff from Yngwie, before hitting the breaks and letting the centre of the track comprise the softer more melodic tones of his guitar work, and then another brilliant guitar solo to lead out the track. Awesome. And the album finishes with the short and sweet acoustic tones of “Farewell”, to complete a tremendous debut solo album.
When I first heard this album in 1986, I was blown away. It was unlike anything I had ever heard before in a guitar-oriented album. Probably because I'd never heard of Yngwie Malmsteen before at that time of my life. Everything about it was new, and those feelings of love for this album still exist for me today. It had been recorded for me on a C90 cassette by my high school heavy metal music dealer, with the Michael Schenker Group’s live album “Rock Will Never Die” on the other side. Man, that cassette used to get a workout. Two of the greatest guitarists back to back. I loved listening to that cassette, and especially this album. A few years later in mid-1990, I went out and bought my first stereo with a CD player, which of course then required me going out and buying some CDs. For work one day I had to take a car from my workplace in Kiama to get fitted out in Wollongong, and had a few hours to kill while waiting for it to be finished, so I walked up to the Wollongong Mall and down to Redback Records and started browsing. And I didn’t want to buy CDs that I already owned the vinyl of, so in some ways the choice wqas sparse. But what CD did I finally find, that became the first CD I ever purchased? Yep, this one. And when I got home and put it on for the first time, and heard with clarity what had become the less audible very stretched and overused cassette copy version that I had... I was simply awestruck. Sure the sound was better, but I was hearing things now that I had never really heard in so much greater depth. It was truly tremendous, and I still remember that afternoon clearly.
I’ve had the album – that same CD copy as it turns out, almost 35 years later – on again a few times over the last couple of days, and I was reminded all over again of its magnificence. The opening burst of those first two songs is still something that takes me back in time to those days of the late 1980’s. And listening to Jeff Scott Soto reach for the heavens in “As Above, So Below” is just as wonderful as it was the first time I heard it. Amazingly, “Rising Force” won the Guitar Player's award for Best Rock Album and was nominated for a Grammy Award for 'Best Rock Instrumental', reaching no. 60 on the Billboard album chart in the US. All of these things had Yngwie’s eyes bulging, with thoughts of a true commercial breakthrough fired by the success of this album. It led to a revamp of ideas for the follow up album, and for the next decade he chased that dream of commercial success.
In the course of the Yngwie Malmsteen discography, all 23 studio albums of it, this for me ranks as his second best album. As a debut album it is in the top bracket, and one of those releases I consider to be a 5/5 album. It was the start of a run of four studio albums that shaped the way guitar albums were conceived, as well as seeing the development and desire of Malmsteen as a guitarist and songwriter grow exponentially. As a fan, it was a great time to have found the one and only Yngwie J. Malmsteen.
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