After mentioning that only one person has ever taken me up on my offer to donate records that they want me to review, my friend Bill handed me a stack for the Cause.
Included was this disk from Swedish guitar virtuoso Ywngwie Malmsteen, who has long occupied space in my mind as the type of highly technical soloist who was more concerned with showing off his own chops than creating enjoyable compositions (see also: Joe Satriani).
Luckily, though there may be no shortage of sweeps and taps and blistering solos, Malmsteen is too much of a Classical music fanboy to let composition sit at the wayside.
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Shades of Beethoven and Bach peek out through the palm muted riffs, unrelenting drum rhythms, and high pitched vocals in way that doesn’t quite sound like symphonic metal, but more like it inspired the movement. The lyrics, delivered by Jeff Scott Soto’s throaty wail, are fixated on mythology and fantasy, which feels more than appropriate given the epic scope of the songs.
It’s not always a winning formula…at times, it feels more like they’re parodying the genre rather than pioneering it (most egregious is “I Am A Viking“). But it pays off far more often than it doesn’t, such as the shapeshifting “Soldier Without Faith” and the dizzy synth solo of “Caught in the Middle.”
Perhaps the best moments of the disk though are where Malmsteen stops caring as much about writing headbanging heavy metal songs and lets himself indulge in his classical leanings. The instrumental “Overture 1383” plays on a variation of “Greensleeves,” Malmsteen’s lead guitar singing over fingerpicked acoustics and analog pads. It’s a gorgeous track, and maybe the best thing on here.
Overall, this record is a whirlwind. Its forty-five minute runtime rushes by with an almost disorienting speed, much like the speed of Yngwie’s fingers on his fretboard. And with so many virtuosos recording albums that play like weak excuses for guitar solos Marching Out is a welcome outlier, offering good songs, great compositions, and—yes—some of the most epic guitar solos heavy metal has to offer.