YNGWIE J. MALMSTEEN'S RISING FORCE: Attack!!

Released: 2002

I've never seen the big deal about Yngwie J. Malmsteen. There are and have always been tons of ridiculously talented guitar players around, but somehow this belligerent, drunken, fat, egotistical Swede has won himself an astonishing army of fans. And yet the more I hear of his music, the more I feel that his reputation is based virtually entirely on his first two (and possibly three) solo albums and his work with Steeler.

For a guy who has been hailed as a genius all this time, he certainly doesn’t seem to stretch his playing very far. As far as my opinion of him goes, Malmsteen’s always come across as little more than a massively ego-driven Blackmore copyist made good, and these days he’s not even worshipping Blackmore anymore because he’s too busy worshipping himself.

Attack!! (with two exclamation points, no less) continues the Swede’s obsession with former Rainbow vocalists (Doogie White in this case, who sang on Stranger in Us All, Blackmore’s last album before he went back to the 16th century), and his own self-indulgent twaddle. The album starts with one of his trademark widdly-widdly fretboard runs and for the next fifty minutes that’s about all he does. Derek Sherinian is credited as playing on this too, but with Yngwie playing everything else except the drums, he doesn’t get to do very much.

By track five or so I was well and truly over it, but I stuck it out in case Yngwie pulled out a good song like he’s want to do now and then. No such luck. Attack!! bored me stupid, and that’s a hard thing to do.

1. Razor Eater


2. Rise Up


3. Valley of the Kings


4. Ship of Fools


5. Attack!!


6. Baroque and Roll


7. Stronghold


8. Mad Dog


9. In the Name of God


10. Freedom Isn't Free


11. Majestic Blue


12. Valhalla


13. Touch the Sky


14. Iron Clad


15. Air

Rating: 23%