Yngwie Johann Malmsteen (born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, June 30, 1963) i… Read Full Bio ↴Yngwie Johann Malmsteen (born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, June 30, 1963) is a virtuoso guitarist / neo-classical metal artist from Sweden who achieved widespread acclaim in the 1980s for his technical proficiency and fusion of classical music elements with heavy rock guitar.
He has released music under Yngwie Malmsteen, Yngwie J. Malmsteen and under Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force.
Born into a musical family in Stockholm, Yngwie was the youngest child in the family. At an early age, he showed little interest in music. It wasn't until September 18, 1970 when at age seven he saw a TV special on the death of Jimi Hendrix that Malmsteen became obsessed with the guitar. To quote his official website, "The day Jimi Hendrix died, the guitar-playing Yngwie was born".
Malmsteen was in his teens when he first encountered the music of the 19th-century violin virtuoso Niccolo Paganini, whom he cites as his biggest classical influence. It has been rumoured that Yngwie believes himself to be the reincarnation of the temperamental, often criticized, and widely misunderstood violinist from Genoa. Through his emulation of Paganini concerto pieces on guitar, Malmsteen developed a prodigious technical fluency. Malmsteen also cites Jimi Hendrix, Genesis, Uli Jon Roth, and Deep Purple as influences.
Malmsteen's contributions to the evolution of modern rock guitar, particularly his embracing of modal progressions and classically-influenced techniques not widely used in rock music, broke new ground and Malmsteen is often credited with the creation of the neoclassical metal genre, inspiring a new generation of virtuoso electric guitarists including Paul Gilbert and Tony MacAlpine.
1980s
In late 1982 Malmsteen was brought to the USA by Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records, who had heard a demo tape of Malmsteen's playing. Shrapnel is synonymous with the shred style of music. He had brief engagements with Steeler, for their self-titled album of 1983, then Alcatrazz, for their 1983 debut No Parole From Rock N' Roll, and the 1984 live album Live Sentence. He left Alcatrazz in 1984, replaced by Steve Vai, and began his solo career.
Malmsteen released his first solo album "Rising Force" (winner of Guitar Player Magazine's Best Rock Album and nominated for a 1984 Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental) which achieved #60 on the Billboard album chart. He was nominated for a Grammy and later Rising Force topped the charts at number 1. This was followed by "Marching Out" (1985). Jeff Scott Soto was the singer on the first two albums.
His third album, Trilogy, was released in 1986. In 1987, former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner joined his band. That year, Malmsteen was in a serious car accident, smashing his Jaguar XKE into a tree and putting him in a coma for a week. Nerve damage to his right hand was reported. It was during his time in the hospital that Malmsteen's mother died from cancer.
In the summer of 1988 he released his fourth album, Odyssey. Odyssey would be his biggest hit album, mainly because of its first single "Heaven Tonight". Shows in Russia during the Odyssey tour were recorded, and released in 1989 as his fifth album Trial By Fire: Live in Leningrad. The concert in Leningrad was the largest ever by a western artist in the Soviet Union, and Malmsteen's record sales in Russia totalled 27 million.
In late 1988, his signature series Fender Stratocaster was released, making him the second artist so honored, after Eric Clapton.
Malmsteen's style "Neo-classical" became somewhat popular during the mid 1980s, with notable contemporaries such as Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman, Tony MacAlpine and Vinnie Moore all reaching prominence after Yngwie. However, only Paul Gilbert claimed Yngwie as an influence, with MacAlpine coming to the neoclassical/shred field by applying his classical piano training to his guitar playing and Moore arriving at a similar style because he shared Yngwie's major influences, Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple and Al Di Meola, American jazz fusion great of Return to Forever fame.
1990s
In the early 1990s he released the albums Eclipse (1990), The Yngwie Malmsteen Collection (1991), Fire and Ice (1992) and The Seventh Sign (1994).
Despite his early success, and continuous success in Europe and Asia, by the early 1990s the gratuitous over-the-top stylings of 1980s heavy metal had become unfashionable in the USA. This was displaced by the Seattle grunge movement, where technical ability was replaced by simpler, more emotionally-driven songs. The grunge rock movement may have arisen in part as a backlash to the overly technical metal inspired by Malmsteen and his contemporaries, which despite its often impressive technique was regarded by many as ponderous, bland and self-indulgent.
In the 1990s, Malmsteen continued to record and release albums under the Japanese record label Pony Canyon, and maintained a devoted following in Europe and Japan, and to a lesser extent in the USA. In 2000, he once again acquired a contract with a US record label, Spitfire, and released his 1990s catalog into the US market for the first time, including what he regards as his masterpiece Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra, recorded with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in Prague.
2000s
After the release of War to End All Wars in 2000, singer Mark Boals left the band. Yngwie went on tour with former Ark vocalist Jorn Lande. Due to various tensions on tour, Jorn left before the recording of Yngwie's next album, Attack!!. He was replaced by former Rainbow vocalist Doogie White. White's vocals were well received by fans, and it seems that he has become a permanent member of the band.
In 2003, Malmsteen joined Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, with whom he toured as part of the G3 supergroup.
Yngwie released Unleash the Fury in 2005. 'As stated in an issue of "Guitar World" magazine, he titled this album after the infamous 'airline incident', which occurred on a flight to Japan for the 'Odyssey' tour. He was drunk and was behaving obnoxiously, until he fell asleep and was roused by a woman dumping water on him. Enraged, he shouted, "You stupid bitch! You've unleashed the fockin fury!" The audio from this moment was caught on tape by a fellow band member.
In 2007, Malmsteen was honored in the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II. Players can receive the "Yngwie Malmsteen" award by hitting 1000 or more notes in succession. February 2008 saw the replacement of singer Doogie White with former Iced Earth and Judas Priest and current Beyond Fear singer Tim "Ripper" Owens, with whom Malmsteen had once recorded a cover of Ozzy Osbourne's song "Mr. Crowley", for the 2000 Osbourne tribute album Bat Head Soup: A Tribute to Ozzy. The first Malmsteen album to feature Owens is titled Perpetual Flame and was released on 4 October. On 25 November 2008, Malmsteen had three of his songs ("Caprici Di Diablo", "Damnation Game", and "Red Devil", all from this latter album) released as downloadable content for the video games Rock Band Rock Band 2 and later Rock Band 3.
In 2008, Malmsteen was a special guest on the VH1 Classic show "That Metal Show". On 10 March 2009, Malmsteen's label Rising Force released Angels of Love, an all-instrumental album, which featured acoustic arrangements of some of his best-known ballads. In August 2009, Time magazine named Malmsteen No. 9 on its list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all-time. Malmsteen recently released another album compilation entitled High Impact on 8 December 2009.
2010–present
On 23 November 2010, Relentless was released, the second album to feature Tim "Ripper" Owens on vocals. The US version featured a remake of "Arpeggios From Hell" as a bonus track. Yngwie appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on 3 February 2011 to promote his album. On 6 August 2011, Malmsteen made another appearance in the United States, playing a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Florida Marlins at Sun Life Stadium. Although rarely seen in his native country of Sweden, Malmsteen played one gig there in 2012. On 7 July, he ended the Getaway Rock Festival in Gävle, which he was headlining with Nightwish and Manowar. On 5 December 2012, Malmsteen released the album Spellbound. 2013 saw the release of Yngwie's official autobiography Relentless.
On 12 June 2014, Malmsteen kicked off his "Guitar Gods 2014 Tour" at the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania alongside ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Bumblefoot and guitarist Gary Hoey. In February 2015, it was announced that Malmsteen was in the studio working on a new album.In April and May 2016, Malmsteen was one of five guitarists featured on the Generation Axe tour.
In 2018, it was announced that Malmsteen had signed with Mascot Records, with a new studio album expected the following year. In 2019, Malmsteen released Blue Lightning, featuring blues rock songs - mainly covers - with Malmsteen's virtuoso playing.
On May 8, 2021, Yngwie Malmsteen was reported to have launched the Parabellum album and video for the "Paganini-referencing" track "Wolves At The Door". Since COVID-19 restrictions prevented touring, Malmsteen had more time to record the album, and was "clearly delighted with the results."
Specialized guitar
Aside from technical prowess, distinctions of Malmsteen's guitar style include a wide, violin-like vibrato inspired by classical violinists, and use of such minor scales as the Harmonic minor, and minor modes such as Phrygian, and Aeolian. Malmsteen cites the Fender Stratocaster and the single coil pickups (of which he uses his custom design by DiMarzio, which are actually a vertically-stacked humbucker mounted in a single coil housing Malmsteen sought to combine the tone of a single coil with the reduced noise of a humbucker) as being instrumental to his unique tone. The Malmsteen signature model Stratocaster made by Fender is based accurately upon this combination.
The guitars he uses are recognizable by the addition of a custom scalloped fretboard. This is similar to a regular fretboard, but with wood 'scalloped' or scooped away to form a concave shape in between the frets. Malmsteen allegedly conceived this design as a teenager while working in a music store in Stockholm, Sweden when he came across a 17th century lute with a scalloped neck using the raised wood as frets. However, this can also be viewed as an influence from Ritchie Blackmore, one of his most readily admitted idols, who also favors scalloped neck Fender Stratocasters. Malmsteen himself has said he learned most from Ritchie Blackmore's guitar riffs and solos as a beginning guitarist. Also, jazz-fusion guitarist John McLaughlin used scalloped fingerboards long before Malmsteen came on the scene.
Even for the experienced guitar player, the scalloped fingerboard proves very difficult to perform on, as there is no surface contact between finger and wood to aid in the feel of the vibrato motion. The strings of the guitar, when fretted, are easily pushed sharp and out of tune. The highly accurate, delicate yet controlled touch required to play properly with Malmsteen's modified Stratocaster is elusive for most, and an integral part of Malmsteen's technique.
He has released music under Yngwie Malmsteen, Yngwie J. Malmsteen and under Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force.
Born into a musical family in Stockholm, Yngwie was the youngest child in the family. At an early age, he showed little interest in music. It wasn't until September 18, 1970 when at age seven he saw a TV special on the death of Jimi Hendrix that Malmsteen became obsessed with the guitar. To quote his official website, "The day Jimi Hendrix died, the guitar-playing Yngwie was born".
Malmsteen was in his teens when he first encountered the music of the 19th-century violin virtuoso Niccolo Paganini, whom he cites as his biggest classical influence. It has been rumoured that Yngwie believes himself to be the reincarnation of the temperamental, often criticized, and widely misunderstood violinist from Genoa. Through his emulation of Paganini concerto pieces on guitar, Malmsteen developed a prodigious technical fluency. Malmsteen also cites Jimi Hendrix, Genesis, Uli Jon Roth, and Deep Purple as influences.
Malmsteen's contributions to the evolution of modern rock guitar, particularly his embracing of modal progressions and classically-influenced techniques not widely used in rock music, broke new ground and Malmsteen is often credited with the creation of the neoclassical metal genre, inspiring a new generation of virtuoso electric guitarists including Paul Gilbert and Tony MacAlpine.
1980s
In late 1982 Malmsteen was brought to the USA by Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records, who had heard a demo tape of Malmsteen's playing. Shrapnel is synonymous with the shred style of music. He had brief engagements with Steeler, for their self-titled album of 1983, then Alcatrazz, for their 1983 debut No Parole From Rock N' Roll, and the 1984 live album Live Sentence. He left Alcatrazz in 1984, replaced by Steve Vai, and began his solo career.
Malmsteen released his first solo album "Rising Force" (winner of Guitar Player Magazine's Best Rock Album and nominated for a 1984 Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental) which achieved #60 on the Billboard album chart. He was nominated for a Grammy and later Rising Force topped the charts at number 1. This was followed by "Marching Out" (1985). Jeff Scott Soto was the singer on the first two albums.
His third album, Trilogy, was released in 1986. In 1987, former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner joined his band. That year, Malmsteen was in a serious car accident, smashing his Jaguar XKE into a tree and putting him in a coma for a week. Nerve damage to his right hand was reported. It was during his time in the hospital that Malmsteen's mother died from cancer.
In the summer of 1988 he released his fourth album, Odyssey. Odyssey would be his biggest hit album, mainly because of its first single "Heaven Tonight". Shows in Russia during the Odyssey tour were recorded, and released in 1989 as his fifth album Trial By Fire: Live in Leningrad. The concert in Leningrad was the largest ever by a western artist in the Soviet Union, and Malmsteen's record sales in Russia totalled 27 million.
In late 1988, his signature series Fender Stratocaster was released, making him the second artist so honored, after Eric Clapton.
Malmsteen's style "Neo-classical" became somewhat popular during the mid 1980s, with notable contemporaries such as Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman, Tony MacAlpine and Vinnie Moore all reaching prominence after Yngwie. However, only Paul Gilbert claimed Yngwie as an influence, with MacAlpine coming to the neoclassical/shred field by applying his classical piano training to his guitar playing and Moore arriving at a similar style because he shared Yngwie's major influences, Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple and Al Di Meola, American jazz fusion great of Return to Forever fame.
1990s
In the early 1990s he released the albums Eclipse (1990), The Yngwie Malmsteen Collection (1991), Fire and Ice (1992) and The Seventh Sign (1994).
Despite his early success, and continuous success in Europe and Asia, by the early 1990s the gratuitous over-the-top stylings of 1980s heavy metal had become unfashionable in the USA. This was displaced by the Seattle grunge movement, where technical ability was replaced by simpler, more emotionally-driven songs. The grunge rock movement may have arisen in part as a backlash to the overly technical metal inspired by Malmsteen and his contemporaries, which despite its often impressive technique was regarded by many as ponderous, bland and self-indulgent.
In the 1990s, Malmsteen continued to record and release albums under the Japanese record label Pony Canyon, and maintained a devoted following in Europe and Japan, and to a lesser extent in the USA. In 2000, he once again acquired a contract with a US record label, Spitfire, and released his 1990s catalog into the US market for the first time, including what he regards as his masterpiece Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra, recorded with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in Prague.
2000s
After the release of War to End All Wars in 2000, singer Mark Boals left the band. Yngwie went on tour with former Ark vocalist Jorn Lande. Due to various tensions on tour, Jorn left before the recording of Yngwie's next album, Attack!!. He was replaced by former Rainbow vocalist Doogie White. White's vocals were well received by fans, and it seems that he has become a permanent member of the band.
In 2003, Malmsteen joined Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, with whom he toured as part of the G3 supergroup.
Yngwie released Unleash the Fury in 2005. 'As stated in an issue of "Guitar World" magazine, he titled this album after the infamous 'airline incident', which occurred on a flight to Japan for the 'Odyssey' tour. He was drunk and was behaving obnoxiously, until he fell asleep and was roused by a woman dumping water on him. Enraged, he shouted, "You stupid bitch! You've unleashed the fockin fury!" The audio from this moment was caught on tape by a fellow band member.
In 2007, Malmsteen was honored in the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II. Players can receive the "Yngwie Malmsteen" award by hitting 1000 or more notes in succession. February 2008 saw the replacement of singer Doogie White with former Iced Earth and Judas Priest and current Beyond Fear singer Tim "Ripper" Owens, with whom Malmsteen had once recorded a cover of Ozzy Osbourne's song "Mr. Crowley", for the 2000 Osbourne tribute album Bat Head Soup: A Tribute to Ozzy. The first Malmsteen album to feature Owens is titled Perpetual Flame and was released on 4 October. On 25 November 2008, Malmsteen had three of his songs ("Caprici Di Diablo", "Damnation Game", and "Red Devil", all from this latter album) released as downloadable content for the video games Rock Band Rock Band 2 and later Rock Band 3.
In 2008, Malmsteen was a special guest on the VH1 Classic show "That Metal Show". On 10 March 2009, Malmsteen's label Rising Force released Angels of Love, an all-instrumental album, which featured acoustic arrangements of some of his best-known ballads. In August 2009, Time magazine named Malmsteen No. 9 on its list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all-time. Malmsteen recently released another album compilation entitled High Impact on 8 December 2009.
2010–present
On 23 November 2010, Relentless was released, the second album to feature Tim "Ripper" Owens on vocals. The US version featured a remake of "Arpeggios From Hell" as a bonus track. Yngwie appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on 3 February 2011 to promote his album. On 6 August 2011, Malmsteen made another appearance in the United States, playing a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Florida Marlins at Sun Life Stadium. Although rarely seen in his native country of Sweden, Malmsteen played one gig there in 2012. On 7 July, he ended the Getaway Rock Festival in Gävle, which he was headlining with Nightwish and Manowar. On 5 December 2012, Malmsteen released the album Spellbound. 2013 saw the release of Yngwie's official autobiography Relentless.
On 12 June 2014, Malmsteen kicked off his "Guitar Gods 2014 Tour" at the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania alongside ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Bumblefoot and guitarist Gary Hoey. In February 2015, it was announced that Malmsteen was in the studio working on a new album.In April and May 2016, Malmsteen was one of five guitarists featured on the Generation Axe tour.
In 2018, it was announced that Malmsteen had signed with Mascot Records, with a new studio album expected the following year. In 2019, Malmsteen released Blue Lightning, featuring blues rock songs - mainly covers - with Malmsteen's virtuoso playing.
On May 8, 2021, Yngwie Malmsteen was reported to have launched the Parabellum album and video for the "Paganini-referencing" track "Wolves At The Door". Since COVID-19 restrictions prevented touring, Malmsteen had more time to record the album, and was "clearly delighted with the results."
Specialized guitar
Aside from technical prowess, distinctions of Malmsteen's guitar style include a wide, violin-like vibrato inspired by classical violinists, and use of such minor scales as the Harmonic minor, and minor modes such as Phrygian, and Aeolian. Malmsteen cites the Fender Stratocaster and the single coil pickups (of which he uses his custom design by DiMarzio, which are actually a vertically-stacked humbucker mounted in a single coil housing Malmsteen sought to combine the tone of a single coil with the reduced noise of a humbucker) as being instrumental to his unique tone. The Malmsteen signature model Stratocaster made by Fender is based accurately upon this combination.
The guitars he uses are recognizable by the addition of a custom scalloped fretboard. This is similar to a regular fretboard, but with wood 'scalloped' or scooped away to form a concave shape in between the frets. Malmsteen allegedly conceived this design as a teenager while working in a music store in Stockholm, Sweden when he came across a 17th century lute with a scalloped neck using the raised wood as frets. However, this can also be viewed as an influence from Ritchie Blackmore, one of his most readily admitted idols, who also favors scalloped neck Fender Stratocasters. Malmsteen himself has said he learned most from Ritchie Blackmore's guitar riffs and solos as a beginning guitarist. Also, jazz-fusion guitarist John McLaughlin used scalloped fingerboards long before Malmsteen came on the scene.
Even for the experienced guitar player, the scalloped fingerboard proves very difficult to perform on, as there is no surface contact between finger and wood to aid in the feel of the vibrato motion. The strings of the guitar, when fretted, are easily pushed sharp and out of tune. The highly accurate, delicate yet controlled touch required to play properly with Malmsteen's modified Stratocaster is elusive for most, and an integral part of Malmsteen's technique.
Revelation
Yngwie Malmsteen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You always hypnotized.
But now I realize.
That I have been drinking with the devil.
Well, I must lift this curse.
It went from bad to worse.
My over flowing cup is filled again.
It's so hard to tell you no.
"My friend let's have another".
No!!
Why do you tempt me so?
Be gone you bottled demon.
Be gone!!
I've seen the darkness visions.
Inside my lonely prison.
You show no mercy, you're my nemesis.
Well, I'll take the consequence.
My bleeding soul will mend.
Now I have saved myself from myself.
I'm never giving in.
I'm delivered from this evil.
You'll lose and I will win.
So say my revelation.
[guitar solo]
Because you lied.
I almost died.
But I know you well.
So go back to hell
But now I realize.
That I have been drinking with the devil.
Well, I must lift this curse.
It went from bad to worse.
My over flowing cup is filled again.
It's so hard to tell you no.
No!!
Why do you tempt me so?
Be gone you bottled demon.
Be gone!!
I've seen the darkness visions.
Inside my lonely prison.
You show no mercy, you're my nemesis.
Well, I'll take the consequence.
My bleeding soul will mend.
Now I have saved myself from myself.
I'm never giving in.
I'm delivered from this evil.
You'll lose and I will win.
So say my revelation.
[guitar solo]
Because you lied.
I almost died.
But I know you well.
So go back to hell
The lyrics to Yngwie Malmsteen's song Revelation tell a story of a person who has come to the realization that they have been drinking and partying with the devil. This realization comes after being hypnotized by the devil and having their overflowing cup filled again. The person now knows they must lift the curse that has gone from bad to worse. However, it's hard to resist the temptation to drink more, and the devil keeps showing no mercy. The person has seen darkness visions while being trapped inside their lonely prison. But, they will no longer give in to the devil's temptation, and they are resolved to be delivered from evil.
The song is a reflection on the perils of alcoholism and addiction, an anthem in which the singer wrestles with the idea that a demon has tempted him with substance abuse. The singer is caught in a cycle of addiction, which he’s well aware of. To break free, he must resist going back to his old ways and face his fears head-on. He is ready to take responsibility for his actions, face the consequences, let his bleeding soul mend, and take hold of his life once again. Finally, the singer triumphs over his demons and delivers himself from evil.
Line by Line Meaning
You always hypnotized.
You had control over me, I was entranced by you.
But now I realize.
But now I understand the truth.
That I have been drinking with the devil.
I have been indulging in something that is leading me down a dark path.
Well, I must lift this curse.
I need to break free from this negative influence.
It went from bad to worse.
Things are getting progressively worse.
My overflowing cup is filled again.
My heart is filled with sadness and despair once more.
It's so hard to tell you no.
I'm finding it hard to reject your offer.
"My friend let's have another".
"Come on, let's have another drink".
No!!
No, I will not give in.
Why do you tempt me so?
Why do you keep trying to entice me back?
Be gone you bottled demon.
Leave me alone, you harmful entity.
Be gone!!
Disappear!
I've seen the darkness visions.
I have experienced the terror of the unknown.
Inside my lonely prison.
Within my own feelings of isolation and entrapment.
You show no mercy, you're my nemesis.
You are merciless, and an enemy to me.
Well, I'll take the consequence.
I will accept whatever may come as a result of my actions.
My bleeding soul will mend.
I believe my heart will eventually heal.
Now I have saved myself from myself.
I have rescued myself from my own destructive tendencies.
I'm never giving in.
I will never surrender.
I'm delivered from this evil.
I have been saved from this malevolent force.
You'll lose and I will win.
You will be defeated, and I will triumph.
So say my revelation.
And this is what I have learned.
[guitar solo]
A moment for an instrumental break.
Because you lied.
Because you deceived me.
I almost died.
I suffered greatly because of your actions.
But I know you well.
But I understand your true nature now.
So go back to hell
So, I reject you and your negativity.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Yngwie J Malmsteen
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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