YNGWIE MALMSTEEN

Relentless

[Rising Force]

If guitarists were paid by the note, Yngwie Malmsteen would be a gazillionaire. For 30 years the Swedish six-stringer has shredded with a scorched-earth vengeance, delivering flying-fingered arpeggios and whammy bar acrobatics that at times defy credulity. By that measure, his latest album ranks among his best. Framed by pile-driving percussion, medieval choral flourishes and portentous lyrical themes, Malmsteen delivers his razzle-dazzle riffs with textbook virtuosity. Sporting song titles that sound like Spinal Tap-inspired howlers (“Into Valhalla,” “Arpeggios from Hell”), the disc nonetheless earns its badge of metal-drama pretense. Key is former Judas Priest frontman Tim “Ripper” Owens, whose vocals grace roughly half the songs and who may be the only singer around who can stand toe to toe with Malmsteen’s six-string maelstroms. Some dismiss Malmsteen’s pedal-to-metal pyrotechnics as soulless and sterile, but he continues to find new permutations within the narrowest of stylistic parameters. Call him the Chuck Berry of neo-classical metal. –RH