Parabellum is Yngwie Malmsteen’s 22nd studio album if I’m not mistaken. It still feels like yesterday when I bought his first album – Rising Force, which I adored. I was very into fast guitars and you cannot deny that Yngwie is a fast guitar player. To say anything else would be just dumb. After that I got Alcatrazz – No Parole from Rock ’n’ Roll as I knew he was a member of that band for a short period. I can’t say that the Alcatrazz album made a lasting impression on me. At least not for the guitar parts. I’ve always liked Graham Bonnett’s vocals though.
I got a few more albums on vinyl back in the day: Marching Out, Trilogy, and a couple more I think. They never reached the heights of that first magical album. To make things a bit complicated, he released albums over the years under somewhat different names. Some are released as Yngwie Malmsteen and some as Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force and variations of that. Maybe there’s a reason for it – I don’t really know.
Have I heard them all? Probably not. I soon got tired that there’s the same scale and guitar runs on every single song! I’m exaggerating of course. But for an untrained ear it undoubtedly sounds that way. Of course, it’s a strength to have your own sound. You’re always recognized whenever you play and it’s easy for fans to immediately hear who’s performing. But, as impressed as I was with the first album, I grew just as tired of it in just a few albums.
I have never tried to hide my view of this virtuoso guitarist. Because Yngwie Malmsteen is surely a virtuoso on the guitar. Once upon a time I always included him in my lists of favorite guitar players. But those days are long since gone, and I recently stated my opinion on social media. To make a long story short, some people surely agree with my view and some don’t. Therefore, I got the recommendation to listen to Parabellum, which was supposed to be great!
I couldn’t say no to that! In these days when everything (almost) is streamable, Parabellum was easy to find and I started listening to it. Immediately, there’s that recognizable sound and those superfast runs that are impressive from a technical perspective.
Is Parabellum a solo project?
On Parabellum, Yngwie does everything by himself, except the drums. So, guitars, bass, vocals, and some other string instruments are all played by Yngwie himself. And yes, on the non-instrumental tracks he sings too. I think it’s a bit control freakish to take this approach, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Jeff Waters of Annihilator did it on King of the Kill and it became one of my favorite albums of all time.
Unfortunately, Parabellum just becomes a long exercise in technical ability for me. There are no really memorable songs and frankly, it sounds like the same song over and over again. This is what I would call guitar masturbations. Technical excellence, no doubt, but not anything really memorable for me. Yngwie is an okay singer – not great, but he gets the job done. I have no problem with his vocals and even in the mix it’s obvious that the guitars are in focus anyway.
But, with that said, if you like the Yngwie sound and the superfast runs, this should be right up your alley.
