Yngwie Malmsteen
Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra

I'll be honest, when I approached listening to this album, I had a lot of prejudices about it. Mainly because I don't like Malmsteen much, I don't love his way of playing and his guitar style, although I recognize his abilities and his contribution (?!) to music (or at least to a certain way of understanding it). I'll be equally honest in saying that I liked this album. In the sense that after putting it in the player, I only took it out after hearing it all, which if someone had told me I would never have believed!

The tracks flow easily, the atmospheres are beautiful, and the guitar digressions are too, although at times (as expected) dear Yngwie exaggerates as usual with somewhat unnecessary phrasing, but de-gustibus... The songs are beautiful and very melodic, I especially liked the tracks played with the classical guitar: "Prelude to April" and "Toccata". Obviously, an album to be taken with caution, absolutely nothing new, starting with the very "classic" titles. Let's say it creates the right "New Year's morning" atmosphere, that is, if (and when) you get up on January 1st and you don't feel like listening to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra broadcast by RAI, you can very well turn to this album, as the sounds contained within give that sensation of relaxation, calmness (and cold) typical of the chilly morning of the first of the year.

To be listened to only and exclusively if the combination of electric guitar (neo-classical) and orchestra minimally interests you, and your mindset allows you to conceive that sometimes (indeed often) musical genres are not so distant from each other, in this case, metal and classical, which have many points in common. This album is undoubtedly exclusively classical, there is nothing metallic inside, except for the fact that Malmsteen is a guitarist of that genre. The fact that it is played in his manner and with all the virtuosity required does not make it metal in this album, as even classical music itself requires a lot of technical skill. Catchy, but certainly not an indispensable masterpiece. End of story.