MARCHING OUT

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An almost perfect debut can be a curse

After the brilliant "Rising Force", YNGWIE MALMSTEEN and his band had set the bar to high for their own sake, so most likely any second release would had been a bit disappointing for fans who were expecting a better album. Even though the guys weren't able to beat an album that was near perfection, they managed to offer us "Marching Out", another excellent record, maybe more oriented towards pure Metal, but without forgetting the Neo Classical sound.

"Marching Out" begins with "Prelude" which is only an anecdote, being that 50% of it is almost inaudible and the other half is pure noise, but luckily the strong opening of "Ill See The Light Tonight" takes us back to "Malmsteenland", where they almost recapture the spirit of "Rising Force" but this time with a slight blend of AOR, except when Yngwie makes his fantastic and almost Baroque solos.

"Don't Let it End" starts mysterious and melodic, a good change after the frenetic finale of the previous track. It's also important to notice that Jeff Scott Soto sounds better than ever and that even when Barriemore Barlow is no longer with the band, a young Anders Johanssen does an outstanding job, more suitable for a Neo Classical Metal band in my opinion.

"Disciples of Hell" starts with a brilliant guitar solo that leads to a very elaborate passage with an extremely frenetic sound only relieved by the versatile voice of Scott Soto who always hits the right note and is able to change the atmosphere almost alone, it's interesting to see how his style changes from this song to "I am a Viking", where he adds strength to the already powerful guitar solos by Malmsteen.

"Overture 1383" is a strange track, starts wit the band pushing the pedal to the metal, but suddenly Yngwie gives us one of the most beautiful and calmed melodic guitar solos, creating a contrast with the following song "Anguish & Fear" in which the Baroque atmosphere with high speed performance is simply breathtaking.

"One on the Run Again" is my less favorite song, in my opinion, it's very pedestrian Metal with very little in special, luckily the brilliant "Soldier Without Faith" that reminds me a Bit of "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by IRON MAIDEN and "Caught in the Middle" compensates the deficiencies with a very elaborate sound and excellent vocals.

"Marching Out" is closed by the title theme, a track that has everything a Proghead likes, drama, strength and radical changes, a good way to finish a food album.

Despite being evident that "Marching Out" is not as good as "Rising Force" (Well, very few Metal albums are), but allows YNGWIE MALMSTEEN'S RISING FORCE to prove that the first album wasn't just luck and also avoid the curse of the first brilliant album, offering a second release almost in the level of the previous, so four stars it is.

Caught in the middle

After the ground breaking and excellent debut album, Malmsteen and co. followed it up with Marching Out. Given the impressive debut the present album is a little bit of a disappointment, but it is still a good album. While Rising Force was mostly instrumental and quite unconventional and indeed very progressive, Marching Out is more conventional in its nature and features more vocal numbers. Songs like I'll See The Light Tonight and Don't Let It End, even if decent songs in their own right, have a more "commercial" sound and feel than anything from the debut. The worst aspect of the vocal numbers lies not in the music but in the lyrics. I Am A Viking is a good case in point; strong musically, but cheesy lyrically.

There are, however, moments of brilliance also on this album and these moments are primarily the instrumental tracks and the instrumental sections in the vocal tracks. Don't get me wrong though, Jeff Scott Soto does a good job behind the microphone again and remains one of the very best vocalists Malmsteen ever had, but somehow he sang better on the debut. The brilliant keyboard solos of Jens Johansson that were such an important part of the sound of the debut are still here but sadly they are fewer, shorter and farther in between on this album. Also, though often very good, the guitar/keyboard duels between Malmsteen and Johansson add little new to what they already did on the debut. The originality and novelty of the first album is indeed hard to match.

Overall, I would say that the second half of this album is stronger than the first side; Overture 1383, Anguish And Fear and the instrumental title track are, for example, all great tracks. In many ways, Marching Out is somewhat "caught in the middle" between Malmsteen's two best albums, Rising Force and Trilogy.

Recommended as a companion piece to Rising Force, but it is not the ultimate place to start your investigation of Malmsteen's works.

My interest over the years in Yngwie Malmsteen has been somewhat sporadic. Despite being a superb guitarist I've found his songwriting skills sometimes lacking resulting in albums with strong moments but lacking overall consistency. There are of course exceptions such as the excellent Odyssey where songs take precedence over guitar flash. I did not particularly intend to start reviewing Malmsteen albums, but perusing his recent addition on PA I accidently clicked the star rating line above the album title of Marching Out. Not wanting to leave a rating only in my reviews list I decided to do a full review. I'm actually quite glad I did now because having not listened to Marching Out for years I'm reminded that it's a much better album than I remember.

Marching Out, released in 1985 was his second album and continues in the vein of his 1984 Rising Force debut, combining a classical influenced guitar style with metal. The result is a heavier album with more emphasis on the metal elements though lightning fast classical fuelled guitar runs and solos are not in short supply. The vocals, courtesy of Jeff Scott Soto, who's singing incidentally has improved a lot since these days, play a more dominant roll giving more emphasis to songs. There are some killer riffs and compelling solos but some of the songs fall a little flat such as the ridiculously titled I Am A Viking where not even some great guitar work can save the day. Songs like caught In The Middle and Don't Let It End are very ordinary but the likes of Disciples Of Hell and I'll See The Light Tonight make amends in fine style where the balance between guitar pyrotechnics and a strong tune are spot on. The instrumental title track closes things in a more restrained mode, at least in pace but features some fiery lead work and is another strong piece.

Overall then a good album with some excellent moments, though the inconsistencies stop it short of an essential release.