Review: The Album "Trilogy" 3rd Studio Album By Swedish Neoclassical Guitarist Yngwie J. Malmsteen

Track Listing for the album "Trilogy"

1. You Don’t Remember, I’ll Never Forget
2. Liar
3. Queen in Love
4. Crying
5. Fury
6. Fire
7. Magic Mirror
8. Dark Ages
9. Trilogy Suite Op:5

The album called Trilogy released in 1986 by Swedish guitarist Yngwie J. Malmsteen is appropriately called this because it is the third studio album by him and it is also the third album in the Rising Force series. The first song is memorable because it would start a precedent of love songs written by Yngwie. The song is about a man that knew that he and his lover were meant to be together forever but then suddenly she betrays him and leaves him. He says that it feels like he has sustained a knife wound. He wonders how she could do the unthinkable thing and just leave him. She does not seem to remember that she broke up with him but he remembers that this happened. Although Yngwie briefly addressed the concept of love and relationships in the 1985 album Marching Out with the song “Don’t Let It End,” he would write more songs about love as his career progressed. The next song Liar features the first real evidence of vocalist Mark Boals’ impressive vocal range. The song is about someone that will lie, cheat, steal and do whatever they want to take advantage of others.

Trilogy is the album that also sets the precedent of Yngwie changing vocalists every album or every other album. His music isn’t a really a band in the traditional sense, it is more of a solo project kind of thing. The album is also different from Rising Force and Marching Out in the sense that there is more of an emphasis in incorporating a keyboard style sound that gives the album that distinct 1980’s sound. This album is the very first collaboration with Yngwie by Mark Boals and I will say that he was a very good vocalist for Yngwie.

"Crying" Song Analysis and Deeper Perspective

Crying is an instrumental song over five minutes long. The song may be a precursor to some of his later works such as the song Forever One which starts out with that same kind of acoustic guitar play. Yngwie started his career showing fans that he was a kind of master of instrumental songs. For the purposes of this review, this is one of those songs that is beautifully written especially at that time. The song has a combination of beautiful acoustic guitar and the usual soloing that Yngwie has been famous for showing us.

The song Fury showcases his brilliance when he does those interludes. Fury is an important song because the message is that we should use wisdom to get through a tough time in life when we are enslaved by this tale of The Fury. At the end of the story, it is still not too late to use wisdom over evil.

The song Fire is about the dangers of getting involved with fire. Whether you are rich or poor, playing with fire is a sure way to get badly burned. Magic Mirror really has the highest vocal range that we hear from Mark Boals considering that this album came out in 1986. The first chant of magic mirror is more melodic while the second chant of magic mirror is higher pitched and it sounds like Mark Boals is screaming.

The album ends with the song called “Trilogy Suite Op:5” which has speed, classically influenced parts infused with keyboard play by Jens Johansson to create one of Yngwie’s longest instrumentals at over 7 minutes long. Trilogy is an excellent album and that makes three very outstanding albums to start a career for Yngwie J. Malmsteen!