Angels of Love

by Thom Jurek

Angels of Love is both a compilation and a new album of sorts by Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen. On it, he has gone over his entire catalog, picked out the various power ballads -- i.e., love songs -- and re-recorded them with steel- and nylon-stringed acoustic guitars, string arrangements, synthesizer and synth guitar, various keyboards, and yes, some trademark electric guitar. Why this matters is that the original news releases were quoted as saying there were no electric guitars on the album, which would have been an utter shock. Now, of course, the only question is how Malmsteen punters will react to a rehash of older material, rearranged, re-recorded, and re-presented outside of its context of origin. The bottom line? While these selections are all good and well and provide an adequate mood soundtrack, they hardly reveal to listeners what they've come to expect from the self-proclaimed "Bach of Rock." Not that this is necessarily a bad thing; changeups can be righteous -- especially when they frustrate advance expectations. The real trouble lies in that most of these tracks, the title especially, add so little to the originals, and remind the listener that in some cases the originals felt like album filler to provide an obligatory change of mood, pace, tension, or drama (pick your own). Only "Ocean Sonata" and "Memories" climb to the heights of the potential Malmsteen himself created with his own pyrotechnics and abilities. In other words, this is an interesting if troubling concept, but it falls short of the mark.