RISING FORCE: ODYSSEY

It is hardly a secret that Ritchie Blackmore is one of Yngwie Malmsteen's biggest heroes. This was perhaps nowhere more evident that on Odyssey where Malmsteen employed Joe Lynn Turner and Bob Daisley, both ex-Rainbow. Personally, I don't like Joe Lynn Turner's voice and I think that he had a very negative influence on both Rainbow and on Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force and (subsequently) on Deep Purple. The albums to which Turner lent his voice are, in my opinion, the worst of Rainbow and Deep Purple respectively and his presence on the present album is not more flattering. Still, there are some good moments on this album.

The album starts out well enough with the eponymous song Rising Force featuring some great guitar and keyboard interplay from Malmsteen and Johansson and even a surprisingly good vocal from Turner. Then, however, comes the shock! Hold On, Heaven Tonight and Dreaming (Tell Me) are three songs of just the type to be expected from a Joe Lynn Turned- fronted band: cheesy and syrupy. Heaven Tonight is the worst of the trio with its übercommercial feel.

Most of what comes after is not that bad, some of it is not bad at all actually, but for this reviewer it is too late to bring this album back on track after the three above mentioned tracks and push it up into the good category. Not very surprisingly given my distaste for Turner, I like the instrumentals and the instrumental sections in the vocal tracks the best. Riot In The Dungeon, like the opening Rising Force, is a great track and could have been even better with Jeff Scott Soto or Mark Boals (or someone else) behind the microphone. Bite The Bullet, Krakatua and Memories are instrumentals, the latter two of which closes the album.

Thankfully, Joe Lynn Turner would leave the band again after this album, but sadly so would the brilliant keyboardist Jens Johansson. Out of the four first Malmsteen albums, Odyssey is the least good and I can only recommend this album to fans (and even more to fans of Joe Lynn Turner). If you are interested (and you should!) in investigating the music of Malmsteen, don't start with this album. Start instead with the much better first three albums.

Share this YNGWIE MALMSTEEN review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to SouthSideoftheSky
• Report this review (#535360)
• Buy YNGWIE MALMSTEEN music online with PA partners
• Show all YNGWIE MALMSTEEN MP3/Stream
• Go to YNGWIE MALMSTEEN page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Rising Force: Odyssey page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for YNGWIE MALMSTEEN related discussions