Yngwie Malmsteen en Music Theories Recordings kondigen de release aan van een nieuw studio album getiteld ‘Parabellum’, uit in juli 2021. Het album is beschikbaar in een limited CD Boxset, Red 2LP, een limited Splatter 2LP web-exclusive (Ltd 300) en digitaal.
In een carrière die nu meer dan 40 jaar overbrugd heeft Yngwie Malsteen bewezen een unieke gitarist te zijn. Hij heeft inmiddels een catalogus van 21 solo studio-albums, die elk veel te bieden hebben. Bovendien speelde Malmsteen een grote rol bij het oprichten en neerzetten van Alcatrazz als een aanzienlijke kracht in de jaren tachtig.
Over dit nieuwe studio album zegt Malmsteen, “I always try to push myself on every album I do, and attempt things which are more extreme than previously. But what has helped this time is that I wasn’t able to go on the road because of the pandemic. It meant I could take much longer in the studio, both to write and record. Because I am usually always on tour, which is great, I haven’t had the luxury of spending a lot of time working on new music for more than 20 years. But I suddenly had no pressure at all on that front. And I feel the album has benefited enormously as a result.”
Er zijn gevallen waarin muzikanten zoveel tijd beschikbaar kunnen hebben voor het opnemen van een album, dat het eindresultaat er overgeproduceerd uit kan komen. Dat is bij Yngwie niet het geval: “I am the sort of person who doesn’t like to do take after take after take of any track. If something isn’t to my satisfaction, I’ll move on. But there were occasions with this album when I dismissed something because I thought it was a stinker. I went back a couple of days later, listened to it and wondered why I thought it stank in the first place! That’s the beauty of having everything available you’ve done through Pro Tools. Nothing is lost. Things were changing all the time. Song titles, tempos. Everything was fluid. I would listen to a part I had done for one specific song, and realise it worked better if I transposed it into another track.”
Vier van de tracks hebben vocalen, maar dat stond van te voren niet allemaal zo in de planning. Malmsteen deelt hierover “I love to listen back to what I’ve done in the car. Sometimes I find myself singing along to what was supposed to be an instrumental. That’s when I realise this song does need vocals. The opposite happens as well.”
Soms klinkt het alsof Malmsteen keyboards heeft toegevoegd, maar dat is niet het geval: “I can assure you that, while it may seem as if there are keyboards, everything has been done by myself on guitar. Even what sounds like a piano intro to ‘Wolves At The Door’, the opening track, has been played on guitar.” This particular composition also includes a clever reference to 19th century classical master Paganini. “It’s the sort of thing I love to do. It’s my way of paying homage to him. And here it works very well within the flow of the track.”
De albumtitel ‘Parabellum’ is Latijns en vertaald naar ‘Prepare For War’. “There’s a track on the album called ‘(Si Vis Pacem) Parabellum’. This translates as ‘If you want peace, then prepare for war’. He offers, “It was a last minute decision to make this the album title. But I think it fits very well.”
Het opvallende portret op de cover werd geschilderd door de veelgeprezen kunstenaar David Benegas. Malmsteen zegt daarover, “That was my wife April’s idea. David lives near us in Florida, and we were talking to him about other projects. I did a photo shoot with Mark Weiss, who I think is a great photographer and someone I’ve worked with for a long time. Then David based the portrait on this. The painting itself is huge, and we’ve had the idea to use it to raise money for the April Way Children’s Foundation (‘dedicated to bringing the artists of the world together to give hope to kids, teens, and young adults that have been orphaned or are in foster care all across the world’).”
Ter afsluiting deelt hij, “The bottom line for me is that the passion I feel for the music I make has to be obvious. I am the sort of person who lives in the moment. I wanted this album to have a joyous, spontaneous atmosphere. This must never sound as if it’s been rehearsed so much that it becomes routine. I hope people will put on this record at the start and listen right through to the end, from start to finish. I recorded this as a singular piece of art. Not as a collection of 10 tracks you can hear in any order you want. I was asked by Mascot what song would be the lead track. The one for which I’d do a video. You know what? I’d like to do videos for everything here. I view this album as having a natural flow from start to finish. It’s not to be cut up into little pieces. I want fans to experience the delight I had in making it.”
Yngwie Malsteen’s album ‘Parabellum’ is verkrijgbaar vanaf 23 juli.
