RISING FORCE: ATTACK !!

It is hardly a secret that Yngwie Malmsteen worships Rithcie Blackmore and often followed in the latter's footsteps. In the past this resulted in Malmsteen recruiting several ex-Rainbow members including Joe Lynn Turner, Bob Daisley and Cozy Powell. For the present album yet another ex-Rainbow man, Doogie White, joins Malmsteen. White was the lead vocalist on the final Rainbow album Stranger In Us All released in 1995. The rest of the band this time consists of ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian and Patrick Johansson on drums. The production is much better than on the previous War To End All Wars, but musically there are no surprises here. Don't expect any Dream Theater influences.

The first half or so of this album is actually very good if somewhat predictable Neo-Classical Metal. Had the album held this quality throughout I would have awarded another star, but sadly the quality starts to decrease in the middle of the album. Stronghold and In The Name Of God are decent songs but they offer nothing but more of the same. The standard rocker Mad Dog is the first real low watermark. It sounds like a below average latter day Deep Purple song. Freedom Isn't Free is however the real blunder. Apparently it is Yngwie himself who sings lead on this track, which (if I'm not mistaken) is the first time in his career. This Jimi Hendrix-like rocker is just terrible and terribly out of place. The lyrics are full of clichés and standard lines.

Majestic Blue is a nice instrumental that redeems the album a little bit, but again it is right in the very centre of Malmsteen's comfort zone and thus offers no surprises. Despite a couple of decent numbers towards the end of the album, it never recovers from the weak middle tracks. And with a total running time well over an hour, it becomes tedious towards the end. It would have benefitted considerably from being reduced to about half its length.

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