Malmsteen

Perpetual Flame
$17.98
With Yngwie Malmsteen's "Perpetual Flame", you get what you would normally expect from an Yngwie album -- an uncompromising set of songs filled with neoclassical shred that Yngwie has been delivering for well over twenty years. In a nutshell: it is more of the same. It will be left up to the listener whether this is a good or a bad thing.

The album's opener "Death Dealer" is a powerful and ferocious number, reminiscent in the manner that "Never Die" started The Seventh Sign album. While the album starts out strong, it quickly drops off after that. The opening riff to "Damnation Game" sounds a little too similar to "I'll See The Light Tonight". It's cases like this where Yngwie is perhaps rehashing his own style a little too much where his material does not sound vibrant and fresh. With the exception of the brilliant "Live to Fight (Another Day)", the first half of this album contains mostly tired sounding songs which will likely be forgettable numbers in Yngwie's large catalog.

"Caprici Di Diablo" is another mind-boggling display of fretboard mastery, in the same vein as songs like "Baroque & Roll" or "Magic & Mayhem". Where this song gets interesting is actually in the following song "Lament", which seems to have a similar theme as "Caprici Di Diablo", but much slower and melodic. This is the key turning point in the album where Yngwie brings out his guns and truly shows what he can create. "Magic City" sounds similar to "Cherokee Warrior", especially with Yngwie on vocals again, but the true gem is the extended solo at the end. "Eleventh Hour" is the keystone for this album, a song so amazing and powerful that it could easily be equated to Rainbow's "Stargazer". This album concludes with "Heavy Heart", which is a beautiful instrumental, that easily could be placed in the ranks of songs like "Marching Out" or "Eclipse".

Despite that the favored method for music distribution is increasingly leaning towards digital downloads, I still enjoy buying CDs for the physical format and the linear notes. Once again, the album cover features an image of Yngwie (albeit a painted version), but it still lacks the imagination that graced the covers of "Trilogy", "Alchemy", and "War To End All Wars". The linear notes do include the lyrics, however someone should have spent a few minutes to check for spelling and grammar errors (which there are several, such as the misspelling of "Carburettors")

Yngwie has proved that he has the creativity and talent to craft excellent songs, but considering that nearly half of this album falls flat, it might do Yngwie some good to have another person to act as a filter -- "Sure, Yngwie, that's good, but it's not great. You can do better than that." Overall, Perpetual Flame is good, just not great. However, there are several shining moments on this album that make it enticing enough to purchase this album. Perpetual Flame is a welcome addition to Yngwie's discography, but it is not likely to be as memorable as his earlier works.

High Impact
$16.98
"High Impact" is a compilation of Yngwie's most masterful instrumental performances since 1993, including: Arpeggios From Hell, Blitzkrieg, Trilogy Suite Live, Guitar Solo, Brothers, Overtur 1622, Cantabile, Blue Asylum 1, Sky Euphoria 2, Quantum Leap 3, Red House, Badinere, Fugue and Magic City. Containing one Yngwie vocal track, this unique and amazing compilation also captures the guitar god's mind-blowing talents on a very rare live performance of Far Beyond The Sun and a never-before-released bonus track of Yngwie's interpretation of the mega hit classic "Beat It", which contains his own magical touch to the song.

The Best of Yngwie Malmsteen: A Step-by-Step Breakdown of His Guitar Styles and Techniques
$22.95
So far I have no complains and can only say that this book is one of the best ones, out there on shredding, Malmsteen style. I only wish there were more songs.

Far Beyond the Sun
$26.98
Going all the back to Alcatrazz classics like Hiroshima Mon Amour and then going forward - all the best known Yngwie (most played anyway) tunes all on 1 DVD. You won't regret buying it. Trust me.