Review Summary: Yngwie wanks too much.
Yngwie Malmsteen is considered to be one of the most inspirational guitarists in all of metal. He practically created the power metal genre from his bare axe-handling hands. To put it simply, he riffed like a maniac to get to where he is now, among the most respected guitarists in music. However, the main problem he had with the critics is that his songwriting just wasn’t good, at all. On some albums it was worse than others, but for the most part it was cheese, bland, and boring. His cover album
Inspiration show Yngwie reworking old rock and roll songs, and just failing miserably at that too.
To put it simply though, he is still one hell of a guitarist. He plays arpeggios as fast as he can, and acts like it's nothing much, and his riffs and solos are nothing short of amazing. He also has a very good taste in bass, as his bass playing on the album is absolutely astounding, hitting all the rhythm parts like they should be hit, thus making very complex bass lines. The problem with all this great playing, however, is the fact that that is all that Yngwie Malmsteen’s music is about. The guitar playing is just played in exactly the same way throughout the album, and as amazing as it is at first, it gets really boring after a while.
This brings up another gigantic problem with this album; the way the covers are played. Despite this being a cover album, it almost sounds like just a normal Yngwie Malmsteen album. He just seems to wank through the songs like there is no tomorrow. The only song that has staying power as a real song is “Manic Depression”, and that song is dreadfully ruined by Ynqwie Malmsteen’s dreaded vocals, which are sour, raspy, and lacking in the range department. Ynwie’s dreadful songwriting/re-working of old songs ruins yet another perfectly good wank-friendly affair.
Another entirely too noticeable error with this album is the vocals: they are dreadful for the most part. Out of Yngwie’s army of vocalists, I am willing to say none of them even have the qualities to be a good vocalist. They either have good range, but completely lack control, or they just sound too raspy, and have little to no range. Yngwie Malmsteen himself takes control of the vocals at a few points, and he just falls so far in the latter that you feel like you’re just hearing talking as opposed to actual singing.
There really isn’t much to say about Yngwie Malmsteen’s
Inspiration at all, it’s a cover album done by Ynqwie Malmsteen that sucks because Yngwie got a hold of the arrangements and tried to make them more his own. I recommend this album to only the biggest power metal fan, and maybe all of Yngwie’s fanboys. This album just seems to drag technicality on and on for eternity and expects you to think it’s amazing music because Yngwie knows his scales and solos.
So What’s Good About Inspiration?- Technicality
- At least “Manic Depression” doesn’t completely suck like the rest of the album.
So What’s Bad About Inspiration?- The re-working of the covers, as they are made to sound like Yngwie songs, which isn't a good thing at all.
- Repetition
- Awful vocalists for the most part
This Message Edited On 10.04.08
