Attack!!

My reaction to Malmsteen’s post-1990s albums is almost as predictable as the formula he used to write them. Invariably, I end up concluding that the Swedish guitar wizard has done better elsewhere. Attack!! is no exception, although there are more surprises here than what I was expecting going in. This turns out to be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, Malmsteen seems to have tried to shake things up a bit across the 15 tracks that form this record, which is never a bad thing. On the other hand, the new directions he experimented with in some of the songs seem somewhat misguided and give the album a fragmented, disjointed feel overall.

In the album’s first-half, Yngwie seems busy attempting to revive the sound and spirit of his glorious past. Fast neoclassical guitar scales abound in the construction of riffs, leads and solos, absolutely dominating the soundscape and instantly bringing to mind the true essence of the genre. Differently from the neoclassical power metal strain that became popular in the 1990s, the spirit of songs like “Valley of Kings”, “Ship of Fools”, or the title-track, is truly rooted in the classic origins of the genre, displaying a hard rock swagger that instantly connects to the music of the 1970s (Deep Purple, Rainbow). Enlisting Doogie White on vocals was a clever move to make that connection even more credible, as the singer does a good job at infusing the polished baroque melodies with some healthy rock ‘n’ roll grit. With the guitar and voice firmly put at the heart of each song, the other musicians are vastly relegated to an inconspicuous sparring partner role, which is mad considering the talents Yngwie managed to enlist here (did he really need Derek Sherinian to play simple chords in a handful of tracks?). But this won’t surprise anyone who is familiar with Malmsteen or who has simply glanced at the endless list of musicians that have transited in his band over the years.

If the album’s first-half flows away pleasantly albeit with a general sense of deja-vu, the second-half is where things start going awry. Here Yngwie attempted to shake things up with a handful of tracks that depart from the usual neoclassical formula, but unfortunately took things in directions that are not particularly convincing. If the detour towards classical instrumental music (“Baroque & Roll”, “Air”) fits well with the album’s overall aesthetics, I cannot say the same about the AOR inflections of “Stronghold” and “Touch the Sky”, or about the straightforward but insipid rock ‘n’ roll vibes of “Mad Dog”. The major offender, however, is “Freedom Isn't Free” a fuzzy blues affair that may nod to Jimi Hendrix, but in a way that would have made the poor man roll over in his grave. The fact that Yngwie decided to sing this song himself with a performance which isn’t exactly for the history books, only adds to the woes of what must be the album’s absolutely lowest point.

The combination of inconsistent direction and lack of quality makes the album’s latter part a chore to sit through and, by the time I get to “Freedom Isn't Free”, I usually press the STOP button because I can’t seem to make myself care about the LP anymore (which is a pity since “Majestic Blue” and “Valhalla” are not bad songs, actually). The shaky sound production isn’t exactly encouraging repeat listens, either. Unsurprisingly, the guitars dominate the soundscape, but they are mixed oddly with the rhythm guitar hard-panned to the right and the bass hard-panned to the left in the stereo mix, giving an odd, disjointed feel to the overall sound. The sudden spikes in volume that occur whenever the lead guitar kicks in contribute to the same unpleasant effect. The drums are also mixed in a strange way, very loud and in your face but with a flat, lifeless sound that at times is actually annoying (the snare in “Attack!!”).

Overall, Attack!! leaves me with the general impression of a less accomplished and less inspired version of the sound Yngwie pioneered in the 1980s, with the further aggravating factor of a highly inconsistent and misguided second-half. For some, Attack!! may still be better than the two albums that immediately preceded it, but we are a long long way from anything that might resemble a reasonable return to form.

There are few things more perplexing than the inverse relationship that Yngwie Malmsteen's quality output in the early 2000s had with that of most of the European based bands of the power metal revival that he helped mold. It is almost as though victory itself had defeated the mighty Swedish shredder, as his period of exile outside the United States for most of the 1990s had seen him flourish as a songwriter and performer, whereas his attempt to recapture his reputation in the former colonies finds him wrestling with production issues, a likely product of trying to compete with the dominant nu-metal phenomenon of the day to some degree. Malmsteen himself was quoted as asserting that re-appropriating the Rising Force name on 1999's Alchemy after jettisoning it after the close of the 80s was a reflection of that original spirit from said era of his music returning, and the return of Mark Boals as vocalist definitely hinted that that was the desired outcome, but the mushy, muddled mess of poorly mixed instruments that was War To End All Wars reveals an 80s icon who was almost desperate to recapture the approval of his second home with Spitfire Records being a fitting vehicle as it had served several other icons like Dio quite well during said time period, and the Rising Force name as a familiar one from the past.

By 2002 the lineup that was the Spitfire version of Rising Force had completely collapsed and Yngwie had opted for a brand new collection of musicians to pick up the pieces, resulting in the somewhat improved but still highly flawed Attack!!. Perhaps the most significant change comes in the form of newly recruited shouter Doogie White, who originally made himself in the mid-90s as the voice that temporarily brought Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow back after more than a decade in the proverbial grave. His vocal character is fairly similar to that of his predecessor Mark Boals, having more of an authoritative, piercing mode of grit, though White spends a lot less time in outright banshee shriek territory. Then again, the introduction of drummer Patrick Johansson proves almost as significant, as his speed happy, Euro speed/power approach to drumming sees the number of faster songs in the vain of "Liar" and "Never Die" increase to a greater proportion of the album than anything since Magnum Opus. Johansson would prove to be the most loyal studio and live musician in Yngwie's fold since the departure of keyboardist Mats Olausson a year earlier and would play a key role in the Rising Force sound regaining focus.

Being the first of what could be dubbed either the Doogie White or the Steamhammer era of Rising Force, Attack!! is an album that largely lives up to its name and sees some renovation following the previous flop. Along with its successor Unleash The Fury it keeps one foot in the more grooving and heavy era that began with Facing The Animal and it retains a smaller degree of the muddy rhythm guitar, over-loud bass and somewhat distant sounding drums, but it definitely picks up the pace something fierce. With an array of speed metal infused anthems such as the title song, "Ship Of Fools", "In The Name Of God", "Rise Up" and "Iron Clad", it seems that despite the production issues, Yngwie is definitely taking note of the approach being taken by younger adherents to his style such as Iron Mask and Narnia. All of these songs listen well and really drive the point home between pacing and ample doses of guitar gymnastics, but they tend to run together a bit. On the more distinctive side of the speed coin are a couple more nuanced numbers that keep some elements of grooving alongside the speed frenzies, one being a not to subtle homage to Dio's "Sunset Superman" (just listen to the melody Doogie White sings during the chorus for confirmation) in "Mad Dog", the other being a somewhat faster unofficial musical sequel to "Seventh Sign" in "Valhalla", and containing arguably one of the most distinctive chorus sections in Yngwie's repertoire to boot.

As noted before, this album still has itself pretty well situated in the groovier part of Malmsteen's career, and this is mostly where the slightly weaker tendencies in the songwriting on this album show forth. The opener "Razor Eater" attempts to merge a heavy dose of flashy scale runs to one of the more plodding and hypnotic groove riffs that has ever come out of this band, and at best comes off as a far less catchy and more repetitive version of "Facing The Animal". Things get a bit more rocking and old school on "Freedom Isn't Free", which sees Yngwie handling lead vocal duties and attempting an earlier version of what he would do with "Cherokee Warrior" on the next album, and the results are less spectacular save the bluesy guitar shredding. Truth be told, most of the slower material that is found on here tends to listen like sloppier drafts of what would adorn Unleash The Fury, save maybe "Stronghold" which manages to spend a bit less time coasting and a bit more time developing while still largely consisting of that sort of chunky, punchy mid-paced sort of rocking that worked extremely well on "Stand (The)" and "Facing The Animal". Likewise, apart from a rather charming electric guitar reinterpretation of an old J.S. Bach work simply entitled "Air", the instrumental material found on here is generally indistinct and mediocre when compared to the classics that adorned Yngwie's first five albums.

In spite of being an album loaded to the brim with material, the overall impression of Attack!! is of an album that was thrown together too quickly. The lame sounding, pseudo-heavy modern production and stilted mixing job that listens almost like an unmixed demo definitely doesn't help this negative impression at all. Song for song it is fairly decent and with a sound quality closer to Malmsteen's mid-90s material it could have rivaled and perhaps even surpassed Unleash The Fury and traded blows with Alchemy. It's the sort of album that can be enjoyed to an extent while it is on, but doesn't grab the listener by the throat and demand to be heard again and again. It isn't the fault of any of the other musicians involved, as most of this lineup would help usher in the astounding Perpetual Flame about six years later, and there isn't really anything lacking in White's vocals, apart from maybe the melodic material that Yngwie composed for him not fully exploiting his abilities. This is more of a failure to do something consistently that this band's leader had consistently done up until two years prior to this, namely ignoring the trends and making music the same way that he was when telling the mainstream U.S. rock and grunge scene to go fuck themselves.

This CD is part of the long downhill slide that started with Alchemy. Deciding that the aggressive yet melodic sound of Fire and Ice through Facing the Animal wasn't suited to his ego enough, Yngwie has decided to shame the name of greats such as the 80's Rising Force albums and the 90's gems such as Magnum Opus and The Seventh Sign. The sound here is totally boring and like a McDonald's Filet-o-Fish, which is technically food, but processed so everything that made fish great is gone. Here, it's technically neoclassical shred, but it has none of the creativity and spark that made his past works great. It's all monotonous sludge, with a buttload of tracks and the only ones that stand out are the instrumentals. Sorry, Doogie, but you can't sing.

It's not so much the performance of other members, though; the drums aren't bad, and seeing as the drums were never defining in Yngwie's 20something year long career, the lack of any memorable drum performances don't hurt Attack!. However, it sure doesn't help the CD, and the bass follows similar patterns, being content to hide in Malmsteen's shadow and follow the rhythm guitar. The keyboards, similarly, are the backing to Malmsteen's wanking, and really contribute nothing to the overall experience of this album.

Like I said earlier, this album is technically neoclassical shred. However, it should be named, instead of Attack!, "The Yngwie Malmsteen Show." Everything on this album exists to inflate Yngwie's ego. While it may be impressive, it has none of the long term wrecking ball effects that his prior efforts like The Seventh Sign, Odyssey, and Marching Out had. It may be entertaining for a few minutes, but it proves to be quite one dimensional in the end.

Okay, when you get a Yngwie album you know what to expect. Unless it's his very first album, then you've heard it all before. He has THE stereotypical 80's shred sound down to a t. In fact, I would daresay he defined it. The good thing about this album is that out of 15 tracks, 3 of them are great instrumentals. Other than that, the guitar playing is typical Yngwie. Lots and lots of guitar wankery, though some moments of really memorable awesomeness.

I've just picked 5 songs that I think showcase the best of the album, and I'll talk about them and mention anything else that has caught my fancy in passing. Since other than the 3 instrumntals and 2 other standout tracks... It's mostly the same old Yngwie (insert shredding here) stuff. But he does it well I have to admit, he's a master of his guitar. Especially after that horrid car wreck thanks to alcohol (don't drink and drive kids, it's not cool). And for having such fat hands (though I notice he has lost some weight recently) that he can play so damn fast! His playing is so fluid and smooth, it's really cool. And his strings are set so high from the fretboard, but shredding on a fender strat with a scallopped fretboard and get such a non-thin tone is kind of cool too.

Oh, and I must note, that the vocals on this album are just kind of meh. No great breakthroughs in lyrics or anything either. But after all, it's all about the guitar.

First off, I'll start with Valley of the Kings. It's a very exotic and almost Steve Vai style of crazy guitar sounds intro (though it sounds like some sort of harmonics). This track is standout for actually having a riff to it and some great double bass to go with the syncopated shredding that actually doesn't start for quite some time in the song.

Next is Ship of Fools which has an Alex Skolnick style melodic intro solo. It sounds insanely hard to play (even for Yngwie; reminscient of his "arpeggios from hell" video). Yet again, there's actually a riff. There's actually spots where Yngwie doesn't go off and wank when there's a break in vocals, I was surprised. This contains alot of lower string shredding, which is cool because he doesn't do it much he seems to like his high strings the most with those crazy bends at the end of a lightning fast shred-phrase. Even some good whammy bar action too, completely in moderation. This track reminds me of Now Your Ships Are Burned from Yngwie's awesome debut album.

For the record, the title track is pure wankery and I had high hopes for it too... Baroque N Roll was a much more tastefully done with flashy guitar work, probably because Dougie White doesn't sing on this track (yes... because it's instrumental). There's some actual memorable phrasing, and it definitely has a classically baroque feel to the playing. I have to hand it to Yngwie, he can definitely play in alot of the classical and older styles of music flawlessly. I even saw a video of him from guitar world where he was shredding the blues scale (and he should've done it on this album; it'd have made it better). Also memorable about this track is there's the keyboard versus guitar solo that always happens live but oh so rarely crops up on an album. It's amazingly well done, and I'd say Yngwie shreds for at least 5 out of the 6 minutes on this song, this man can really go the distance on his guitar playing!

Despite Stronghold having a great intro riff (a rarity for Yngwie, he doesn't do much memorable riffing except for songs like You Don't Remember, I'll Never Forget from Trilogy), I'm going to skip over it because the rest of it is generic. Also I will note that for the song Freedom Isn't Free... Yngwie changed his guitar tone! I was so thrown off, I didn't think it was him. It's a completely different sound that reminds me of somebody I can't quite place. More of a Vai, Satch, or Petrucci tone than anything else though. Pleasant change though.

The next instrumental is Majestic Blue, and it continues with this changed guitar tone. About 30 seconds into the song, the old standby guitar tone comes back. Actually some decent slow soloing in this song and guitar harmonies (which are a rarity on Yngwie albums as well). Plus some panning one guitar right and another guitar left allowing for crazy dual soloing. Yngwie definitely shows off some chops that he needs to use more often in his studio albums. This is a great track and is actually highly melodic!

I have to mention Valhalla just because: What band hasn't done a song named this!? Grave Digger, Blind Guardian, Black Sabbath... And now Yngwie! Though I like how they all do the singing of the word "Valhalla" differently. Dougie sings it through as if it was 3 syllables and flows it at a steady pace (Val-hall-a) with some holding of the 'a' at the end. So, do like they say "Live by the sword, die by the"... Nevermind, you know the rest.

Ironclad starts out like Farewell from the Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force album with a very Black Star-esque fadeout. Which is great, but then it should've been the last song on the album. Instead, the instrumental Air is. But hey, it's a good instrumental that starts out slow (dang it, now Yngwie is having a habit of doing slow and melodic instrumentals... he better watch himself now) with some really trippy fingerings of notes and good use of trills and vibrato. Almost an epic feel to this song, and a good one to end on. There's no shift, it's just 2:35 of the same thing, but it's okay becuase it's short and sweet and polishes off the album nicely.

Sadly, Yngwie made this album pretty much 50/50. Half of it is the same old generic stuff and the other half of it was actually really unexpected and cool with a few new flavors (and a guitar tone) thrown in to spice it up. But since he really defined the sound and type of music that he plays, and he does it so well, I can't rip on him too much for it. Don't rush out and by this album by any means though, but if you spy it for $5-$7 used somewhere it's definitely worthwhile to pick up. Likewise, if you're looking to get into Yngwie, get his first album. If you don't like it, you won't like anything else he's done I guarantee it. And basically every album after it was more of the same with a song or two with a breath of new life - and this album is no different.