The Seventh Sign

The Seventh Sign is the seventh album on which Yngwie Malmsteen, joined by Michael Vescera, binds neoclassical speed and dramatic singing at high density. Fast phrasing appears as a matter of course, but the riffs and melodies also have clear rises and falls, keeping the dynamics of the songs firmly intact. From the drive of “Never Die” and the weight of “Meant to Be” to the balladic reach of “Forever One” and the drama of the title track “Seventh Sign” and “Pyramid of Cheops,” the faces of the songs are wide-ranging. The guitar is the lead, yet it does more than push the vocals aside; it stages the tension and release of each song. Assembling many showcases of technique while keeping the songs polished, it lets flair and accessibility coexist fairly naturally. Beyond the speed of the solos, it rewards attention to the passages where guitar and voice hand off the same melody and to the changes of tone in the ballads — a dramatic, strongly realized record showing the fullness of mid-period Yngwie.