Damn Right he’s But the Blues

It’safe to say that when guitar fans talk about Yngwie Malmsteen — and guitar fans talk about Yngwie Malmsteen a lot — they don’t usually mention the word “blues.” Rather, the Swedish virtuoso is, of course, firmly established as rock’s foremost exemplar of neoclassical shred guitar, and has been for a good 35 years. During this time, he has seemingly run rampant over any limits that might have been deemed to exist regarding human finger speed, in the process crafting some of the most technically advanced, insanely acrobatic and, of course, ridiculously fast licks, riffs and solos in all of rock and metal. He is, as Malmsteen himself states to Guitar World, “a circus freak” guitarist, and in the very best sense of the phrase.

All of which is to say that, despite the cult of fandom that exists around Malmsteen, very few — if any — of his devotees come to him looking to hear him play the blues. And yet, this is exactly what he has offered up (sort of, as Malmsteen will explain) on his new solo album, Blue Lightning. But rather than merely peeling off tried-and-true pentatonic phrases over classic 12-bar, I-IV-V workouts, the album presents the guitarist still doing what he does best, albeit with an approach that, if not exactly blues, is certainly, as he says, “bluesy.”

“To me, you don’t have to play Muddy Waters and B.B. King to have it be a blues album,”