Reviews list for Yngwie J. Malmsteen - Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad (1989)

My relationship with the music of Swedish neoclassical guitar icon Yngwie Malmsteen began way back in 1988 through his fourth studio album “Odyssey” & would lead to me very quickly becoming infatuated with him. Well… to be fair it was more about his technique than it was the song-writing because I’d honestly never heard anything quite like it. Albums like “Rising Force”, “Marching Out” & “Trilogy” all offered a unanimous level of appeal for a budding young shredder like myself & I’d invariably check out everything Yngwie would put out for the next seven years before losing interest through the middle of the 1990's. In more recent times though, I’ve found myself retreating to these records & have been a little surprised at how enjoyable I still find them to be. Yngwie’s 1989 live album “Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad” is perhaps the release that I’ve spent the least amount of time with from his peak 1980’s period though. Being a live performer myself, I’m generally open to live releases as they can sometimes bring new elements to the music, often through imperfections that aren’t always a bad thing & that’s certainly the case here. On the contrary, the very slight blemishes in Yngwie’s performance here only provide further proof of his absolute mastery of his chosen instrument.

“Odyssey” is my favourite Yngwie studio album these days so the timing of “Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad” couldn’t have been much better really, particularly as it features very much the same lineup with bassist Barry Dunaway (Joe Lynn Turner/Saraya/38 Special) being the only addition in order to reproduce Yngwie’s bass lines. Former Rainbow & future Deep Purple & Sunstorm front man Joe Lynn Turner proves himself to be a class act, putting in a highly professional performance that rarely puts a foot wrong while the wonderfully talented Johansson brothers Jens (Cain’s Offering/Rainbow/Stratovarius/Dio/Silver Mountain) & Anders (HammerFall/Manowar/Silver Mountain/Stratovarius/Blue Murder) absolutely slay in their roles behind the keyboard & drum kit, Jens often challenging Yngwie in the chops department.

The tracklisting is fairly heavy on the last two studio records “Odyssey” & “Trilogy” with “Rising Force” having just the two instrumental tracks included & “Marching Out” being overlooked altogether. There’s also an admittedly pretty solid cover version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Spanish Castle Magic” included right at the end of the album too while Yngwie takes the opportunity to showcase his undeniable talents with a ten-minute guitar solo section. I haven’t traditionally found as much appeal in Yngwie’s more neoclassically inspired instrumental pieces & that’s still the case here but there are no weak tracks included. It’s in the material drawn from “Odyssey” that you’ll find most of the highlights though along with Yngwie’s signature instrumental hard rocker “Black Star”. My personal favourite is “Heaven Tonight” whose hooks have lost none of the power of their studio counterpart. “Déjà vu” & “Crystal Ball” are also wonderful examples of the melodic European heavy metal sound.

It's honestly hard to go past a live album like this one given that it showcases most of Yngwie’s best material on the one record. I would have liked to hear a track or two from Yngwie’s very solid “Marching Out” sophomore album but I’m gonna assume that the decision not to go down that path was related to Lynn Turner’s ability to replicate Jeff Scott Soto’s voice as I doubt it had anything to do with the strength of the material. Regardless, it’s hard not to feel like I’ve been missing out over the years when you consider that I haven’t given this record the same level of attention as Yngwie’s studio albums. In fact, this may be my new favourite Yngwie record overall which was certainly unexpected. If you’re into guitar shred artists like Cacophony, Axel Rudi Pell or Alcatrazz then “Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad” comes highly recommended by this ol’ shred-head.