Yngwie Malmsteen Released His Debut Solo Album 37 Years Ago – 1984’s Rising Force – The full in bloom Chronicles

Yngwie Malmsteen
Rising Force
Released: 3/5/1984
Recorded @ Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles

Thirty-seven years ago this month, Yngwie Malmsteen released his debut solo album, Rising Force via Polydor Records. The album peaked at #60 in the United States on the Billboard 200 and #14 in his native country of Sweden. The album was nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 1986 Grammy Awards.

“Paganini is probably my biggest classical influence. I got turned on to him through a tv show in Sweden. This guy was playing Paganini and I freaked, so I went out and bought Paganini’s “Twenty-Four Caprices,” which is my all-time favorite thing to listen to. Paganini did with his instrument what few people have ever come close to doing. He was a rock and roller — very wild and very extreme.”

Extreme is one of the many words used to describe Malmsteen’s guitar style-an ear-searing combination of heavy metal bombast and classical beauty. Although this approach is readily apparent on most of his recorded work, it was the Rising Force album which gave Malmsteen’s career a quick boost right after leaving Alcatrazz. Originally released only in Japan on Polygram, the album sold so many copies as an import that U.S. Polygram went on to release it … a good move. At its peak the album went as high as number 60 on the Billboard chart-an uncommon achievement for a predominantly instrumental album with no airplay.

Malmsteen also played bass on the album – a Fender Telecaster bass with a tremolo. “The bass parts are pretty straightforward,” he says, “so after a while I got bored. I could have played very technical and complex if I wanted to, but I didn’t think fancy bass playing would have sounded good. I did a few cool–sounding runs, though.” –READ MORE @ Guitar World

“I wanted to leave Alcatrazz a lot sooner than I actually left,” says Malmsteen, who stayed in the band for nearly a year and a half and in Steeler for just four months. “There was always a subliminal disliking between me and the rest of the guys in the band. We couldn’t agree upon things and my influences and beliefs were totally different from theirs. We tried to be as nice as we could to one another, but it was an uncomfortable atmosphere. They probably feel the same way about me.”-READ MORE @ Guitar World