Genre: Hard Rock Format: flac + cue + log Released: 1998 Label: POLYDOR
01. Man With A Mission
02. Ivory Towers
03. Why Does Love Hurt
04. Haunted By The Devil
05. Doing The Natural Thing
06. All I Wanted Was Your Love
07. Call Me Mayhem
08. The Light
09. High Time To Fly
10. Make You A Man
11. Power In The Wrong Hands
12. You're All I Believe In
Cozy's last solo studio performance before his premature death is a must have in your collection. The bonus is that the album is full of GREAT MUSIC!! The song "High Time To Fly" should have been a hit single. This album is a gem that you will love.
Genre: Guitar virtuoso Format: Wv + cue + log + test Released: 2009 Label: Rising Force
01. Forever One
02. Like an Angel
03. Crying
04. Brothers
05. Memories
06. Save Our Love
07. Ocean Sonata
08. Miracle of Life
09. Sorrow
10. Prelude to April
Yngwie’s core fans will be pleased anyway, even if lightning arpeggios are rarely seen (don’t bet...) in this compilation CD. The Swedish virtuoso’s rivals will have another arrow in their quiver, not to forget, even if now it’s not the time for accusing the man of infinite shredding. Who’s left then? Well, fans willing to taste alternate versions of the originals plus fans of mild music is a case study,. After listening to "Angels Of Love" for a dozen of times in a row (gazing at the attractive lady in the cover frequently, to recapture the muse tendered) it’s no wonder I’d take a glimpse again shortly.
What’s the scenario here: the ’neoclassical’ shredder compiled this album with (nearly) acoustic versions of some of his ballads all these years. Using acoustic guitars - with a slice of electricity scattered for some climax to be uncapped - and keys arrangements, Yngwie lets his inner self loose in service of the resulting equilibrium and tranquillity. Some of the songlist does not fly away from the original versions, mainly due to the inflexible composing pattern while enough songs do gain a fair new-fangled point in terms of letting loose ’parallel’ emotions once buried under the nonstop virtuosity of this mentor.
I think (did not count, it’s a general impression) the takes recorded here do not - in a whole - depict 100% of the duration of the originals; let’s just say that each tune here carries the main theme (or a set of themes) correlating to the preliminary composition. In addition, I cannot recall any existent song named "Ocean Sonata" in Malmsteen’s so far catalogue, not being a die-hard follower though...Anyway, some last notion obtained is that - due to his performance or the new arrangements or whatever - the final upshot approaches more the Uli Jon Roth blend rather than the Ritchie Blackmore pen (if only these two choices ever existed in Yngwie’s mind, haha).
Sum it up? Yeap, this is the road the Swedish maestro walks on the last quarter of a century. Nothing new in terms of style, still listening to this album while driving in the countryside, seeing beautiful landscapes, reading on a winter’s night or just sitting by the fire is some kind of a nice companion soundtrack. "Angels Of Love" is perfect as a present too, let’s propose.
On second thought: if Yngwie Malmsteen also wanted to deliver a certain message to his critics, he possibly did it... Reviewed by Grigoris
07. Death of a Dream - The Embrace that Smothers Part VII
08. Living a Lie - The Embrace that Smothers Part VIII
09. Fools of Damnation - The Embrace that Smothers Part IX
10. Holy Man (Glenn Hughes Remix)
11. Beyond Belief
12. Safeguard to Paradise
13. Sancta Terra
14. The Divine Conspiracy
In a year that saw new releases by Within Temptation and Nightwish, I was rather surprised to find that Epica's new offering turned out to be my favorite female-fronted symphonic metal release of 2007. The Divine Conspiracy is far from perfect — in fact, it has some glaring problems — but when it hits the mark, it really hits the mark. If you've heard anything in this general stylistic niche, you generally know what to expect: zero subtlety, tons of bombast, lots of catchy vocal melodies and grandiose keyboards mixed in with the chugging guitars. There are a few reasons The Divine Conspiracy rises above the rest of the pack. For one thing, Epica have gotten heavier, and at this point they're much heavier than any of their better-known peers, especially in the drumming and male vocal departments. For another, Simone Simons is at the absolute top of her game, possessing maybe the best voice in this niche now that Tarja Turunen is out of the picture.
The first five songs on this album, not including two brief instrumental introductions, are almost entirely the reason that I hold it in such high esteem. There's Simons' beautiful voice, yes, but there are also some pleasant surprises. Mark Jansen's vocals vacillate between black metal howls and death metal growls, and he is surprisingly effective at both in this context (though his death growls, which are kind of in the Mikael Åkerfeldt/Dan Swanö mold, probably wouldn't cut it in a straight-up DM band). Coen Janssen's keyboards are ridiculous and over-the-top as per the norm in this genre, but the sounds he uses are fantastic — I actually wondered if there was a real orchestra performing on this album, and when I saw them live I was pleasantly surprised to see that no, all those extremely real-sounding string sections, choruses and more are all coming from the synths. Most importantly, the compositions meld black metal brutality and symph-metal bombast (and Simons' angelic voice) seamlessly, more so than any other similar band that's tried to be this heavy.
These five songs are all almost beyond reproach in my book, with the exception of the fact that some of them are unnecessarily long by two minutes or more. This turns out to be my main criticism of the album as a whole: it's just too damn lengthy. The second half of the album tails off badly in terms of quality, to the point that "Sancta Terra" is the only song out of the last six that I listen to. It's not that these songs are actively bad, rather that they lack the hooks, melodies and memorable symphonic arrangements of the first five songs, and become just so much bombastic sonic wallpaper. Even the title track, which at 14 minutes closes out the album, is disappointing; for a closing epic I expected it to be one of the best pieces on the album, but no such luck. It starts off with suitable pomposity, all movie soundtrack drama and widescreen grandeur, but it soon loses the plot, failing to present enough ideas to justify its enormous duration.
While the same could be said of this album as a whole, the six songs that I do like are easily good enough to ensure that I think good things when I listen to this record. All the usual caveats for this kind of music apply: you absolutely have to be in the mood for extreme bombast, while at the same time accepting that a band that gives so much air time to a soprano vocalist just isn't going to be as metal as your favorite tech-death group. Still, as far as these things go, The Divine Conspiracy is one of the best albums of its kind, despite its many weaknesses, and it's certainly a massive step up from Epica's previous albums, which never really made much of an impression on me.
