Customer Reviews

War to End All Wars

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I've been a long-time, diehard Yngwie fan. I was hearing many rumors before this album was released that it was going to be a great album...that it had many new surprises awaiting me, which was something I was hoping for because listening to Yngwie albums year after year I was feeling like I was hearing the same thing.

Well, this album did surprise me. And the first surprise of the album was a bad surprise. The mixing and engineering on this album is horrible. The lead guitar is too loud, the rhythm guitar is muddy, the vocals are too quiet in the mix, the mix is very dry and in your face and could use some reverb in a few place...the whole mix sounds very muddy. The album sounds like a 21st century demo.

The other poorest quality of this album is the lyrics. Lyrics have never been Yngwie's strong point and this album is no exception. However, I am one who usually does not listen closely to lyrics so this aspect does not bother me much.

The good things about this album? Some AWESOME guitar riffs, especially on Crucify and Bad Reputation. Crucify is the best vocal track on the album and is great from beginning to end...great intro riff, cool background sitar with Yngwie shredding on that as well as the bass...one of the highlights of the album. Yngwie is great at writing instrumentals and this album is no exception. Other than Crucify, the three instrumentals are the highlights of the album. Great melodies, great guitar playing.

The other songs on the album are mediocre to good. Miracle of Life is a good song but the poor engineering on the album seems to ruin some of the effect of the song. Yngwie slows down a bit at times on this solo which sounds cool and I would like him to explore this direction more. I hear Yngwie do some cool new licks and ideas in places, yet at the same time I also hear him rehash old things (example: "Catch 22" riff begins exactly like "See You in Hell" from Eclipse). "Tarot" starts off really strong with a really cool sounding keyboard part but the song itself doesn't feel really strong. Many of the songs will grab you in places yet lose you in others. Overall, many of the vocal songs have a feel like they were just haphazardly thrown together...like they were rushed.

Diehard Yngwie fans should have this album for the instrumentals and for "Crucify." Fans "on the bubble" or people new to Yngwie should not get this album. If you are new to Yngwie, get his first CD "Rising Force" and his Concerto Suite. These albums represent Yngwie at his best.

...this album can be summed up pretty easily: If you like Yngwie, then you'll appreciate the songs and the fact that he has taken the time to constuct his solos around sweeping appregigios and real melodies (unlike all the other albums since Fire and Ice). Example songs: The Wizard, Masquerade, Miracle of Life, Crucify - much better than the usual 'widdle diddle' solo efforts that go nowhere. It's funny how Yngwie even admits to never listening to his previous albums - even he probably gets bored hearing his own playing. It's just so pointless - we get that he can play fast by now. ....At some points in the songs, the vocal volume actually flluctuates, so for example, verse 1 sounds quieter than verse 2. The singer is hidden by the bass ...Yngwie plays the bass on this CD so no surprises that he wants to be heard over the vocalist. ....

The whole thing sounds like a poor recording on a warped 8 track demo. Shame .... As an Yngwie fan myself, I have to admit, he should never have lost Goran Edman as a vocalist/lyricist. It's never been the same since. Eclipse was his real magnum opus. Needless to say, WTEAW gets two stars from me. ....

Yngwie has portrayed a very high standard for himself ever since he started. Some of his albums are very good some are just repetitive junk, they atleast are well recorded. War to end all Wars is very badly recorded the guitar sound is very weak more like really overdirven fuzz, it sounds really bad, the drums sound like card board boxes and the overall mixing is muddy, oh, and the singer really sucks! He sounds nutless, very high-pitched squealing. The lyrics are also pretty stupid. I'm very sorry I spent my money on this album, the songs are basically the same thing Yngwie has done always, nothing new, nothing interesting, very boring. Repetetitive. We all know that he is fast, we all know that he is the ultimate shredder and now we all know that he is running out of ideas and songs. Yngwie should recall this album and atleast put it out when it's decently recorded. I've heard bad sounding demos that sound better than this. Anyways, get his Alchemy album if you want a good album of his, The Seventh Sign is also good and anything from his early days. Skip this one, don't waste your money!

I have eight or nine Malmsteen albums and this on is my least favorite. It sounds like it was done on a four track. Obviously the guitar work is excellent but between the muddy sounds and the singer's voice it just doesn't hold up. I would recommend Seventh Sign or any of the first five albums before this if you want to get a better sense of Yngwie's talent.

I am so confused Johann! After the wonderful "Alchemy" I expected a disaster- and got one all right...but not for the reasons one might think from this Wizard of the Strat. It is the final MIX! The album has great songs, solos, and arrangements-but has the worst final mix I have ever heard...and I mean B-A-D!!! Did Yngwie listen to the master? The bass guitar covers everything. Mark Boals is BURIED in the noise. The choral-vocal parts stand out, but in all...the CD is unlistenable due to the noise. Compare the Engineering to "Odyssey" (1988) or "Magnum Opus", (1994) and see what I mean. Oh Yngwie is KING. The "Double Live" CD from Spitfire took the place in my collection of this disaster in my collection, however. What a shame. Can anyone say : "RE-MIX"???? Awful.

I bought this CD and had the luxury of listening to it over a 4 hour car ride. Here is why you are better off spending your money elsewhere:

1) Same solos as always only more out-of-time 2) Does Yngwie practice or is he just filling holes in the songs? 3) Yngwie's claim in the 80's was he listened to classical musians. He must have lost his hearing 4) His playing sounds sloppy although it is hard to tell because of the ... production (Yngwie produced the CD) 5) What's next? How about spending more time crafting logical solos instead of writing stupid lyrics.

I saw Yngwie on the War tour in Pittsburgh before he fired his band. It was my fifth Malmsteen concert and by far his worst. There were no new amazing guitar licks but rather, sloppy playing of the ones he repeats almost every song. This CD is the same - a poor repeat performance.

Don't get me wrong, I bought this CD and am listening to it as I write this review. I have been a die hard Malmsteen fan since I first heard him in Alcatraz. I have continued to follow his progress to this very day. I do have two points of contension, however. FIRST This CD is really a rehash of previous work. Most of the melodies as well as most of the solo's can be found in earlier works. SECOND While Yngwie is a brilliant guitar player, he should NOT be allowed to write his own lyrics. This has been the only real problem that I have had to overlook in his music. The lyrics are really quite lame. Sorry Yngwie.

I have to admit, at first listen, this album didn't really hook me. However, once I listened to it all the way through, I found that this is a really cool album. The riffs are all very solid, as are the songs, and the solos (as if there was ever any doubt) are fantastic. The vocals (done by Mark Boals) are wonderful. I was sad to find out that Mark left the band. However, I listened to some clips of his new solo album (called "Ring of Fire"), and was very impressed. I'm sure that the new singer Yngwie has (John Lande) is great, too. The opening track "Prophet of Doom" is great, with a really cool solo. "Crucify" is also incredible, especially the solo. It has a very strong backing, with cool sitar work in there as well. The next three tracks "Bad Reputation", "Catch 22", and "Masquerade" are kind of similar, in a way. All good songs, but probably rank "mediocre" when compared to the other songs on this album. The main riff in "Catch 22" is actually a variation on the main riff from "See You in Hell (Don't Be Late)", from his 1990 release "Eclipse". I must say, I liked the original riff better. The instrumentals "Molto Arpeggiosa", "Preludium", and "Instrumental Institution" are great, of course. However, I would have liked if he would have given them different names. I mean, "Instrumental Institution" is a humorous title, but it doesn't fit the mood of the song. "Molto Arpeggiosa" basically means "arpeggios from hell" (the original name of the song). I liked it better when he named his instrumentals things like "Black Star", "Krakatau", "Eclipse", and so on. Names like "Preludium" are better left for the likes of future Concerto Suites (Opus 2, anyone?). "Miracle of Life" is a good ballad; touching, to be sure. However, this does not rank among one of his best ballads. "The Wizard", well, is just plain awesome. The riff is very catchy and the solo is way cool. "Preludium" is probably the most classical thing on this album. I can hear him doing that one with an orchestra. "Wild One" is one of my favorite songs on this album. It's very autobiographical. It's also quite nostalgic. You'll hear what I mean when you hear "I was the Viking/I saw the light/The force was rising, shining bright/I was the soldier without faith/The black star's glowing rage". "Tarot" is another one of my favorites from this album. The keyboard sounds really cool. I love the E flat Phrygian/F Phrygian/A flat Aeolian modulations in this song. The solo is also one of my favorites. The title track "War to End All Wars" is good, though it's probably no "Seventh Sign". Now for the bonus track--humorous. "Black Sheep of the Family" is a reggae-rock tune. Yngwie himself said this was more of a joke than anything else. I actually got used to it and kind of like it now, especially the wah-tinged solo. All in all, a very good album. I've heard a lot of complaints about the lyrics. I personally don't think they're all that bad; some of them are actually quite good. Even if the lyrics don't impress you, the rest of the album surely will. I definitely recommend this album to any Yngwie fan, as well as any newcomers.

Ok, lets get the bad out of the way first. On first listen, the production of this cd is quite annoying. It sounds really mushy...the lead guitar is at times drowned out by mushy bass and rhythm guitars. I don't know why Yngwie would have kept it like this when he was totally in control of how this cd was recorded. In subsequent listens you start to "hear through" the mushy sound, but I think Yngwie should work on this next time. Now onto the playing. This is vintage Yngwie...right along the lines of Alchemy. Wickedly fast solos and blazing neoclassical instrumentals that will make your jaw drop although there is quite a bit of rehash here (ex. Catch 22's main riff is See You in Hell). Yngwie is still the master of the jaw dropping solo and his command over the instrument cannot be disputed. We also get some really cool keyboard/guitar duels on Instrumental Institution. Yngwie needs to let Mats shine more often. This cd has some of Yngwie's better rhythm ideas, although he is still playing catch up with Michael Romeo of Symphony X in this area...mostly due to that mushy Strat sound. The vocals are respectable...I am glad to see that Mark Boals is leaving though...Yngwie needs to dump the glass breaking sound for a more power oriented singer like Jeff Scott Soto or Russell Allen. Black Sheep of the Family was amusing, but I hope Yngwie will not make this a regular occurence...I would rather see some blues shredding if he is going to venture out of the neoclassical realm. Overall another solid Yngwie release with some jaw dropping playing.

After Alchemy,which I thought was a great album,this is a total disaster.I expected more,after the kick that Alchemy was for me.I thought the bad Yngwie albums were far,far behind.But man,this was too much for me.I thought the album sounds repetitive and Mark Boals sounds worn out.And,what was worst,the final mix is horrid!!!!You'd think a guy like Yngwie would be more careful with production aspects,but what was shown in this album made me think the guy was in some kind of rush to release something.No,no,no.I wouldn't recommend this.This would be a bad start for a new listener and it's disappointing for Malmsteen fans of old.This is just for rabid Malmsteen fans,who maybe would think it's a good album,leaving aside the sound of the final mix.I don't think so...it's a waste of time and a waste of money.Follow a previous recommendation and better get yourself Symphony X's "V",or "The Divine Wings of Tragedy".Get good stuff for your money.