review by: Roberto Martinelli

Whoops. It seems Yngwie Malmsteen has bit off more than he can chew on this one. Yngwie, infamous for embodying the egomaniacal, narcissistic rock star stereotype, has taken his obsessive control impulses past being the only one to go anywhere near any instrument that has strings on it, to being in total control of the production board. Big mistake.

Perhaps I'm being a little too critical, but all you have to do is open up the booklet that comes with War to End All Wars and take a look at the smorgasbord of photos that feature Yngwie: Yngwie in sunglasses with his shirt open, Yngwie with his son, Yngwie in his pool room, Yngwie in a suit of armor, etc…, and no pictures of anyone else in the band, (not that there has ever been any pictures of any one else in the band on any Yngwie albums I've seen), plus the obvious way in which Yngwie's credits are clearly separate from the other band members' ones, make it clear that if anything is wrong with the album, it's all Yngwie's fault.

Although some of the songs themselves are real duds, the main problem is indeed the production. To borrow one of ~Vargscarr~'s famous sayings, it sounds like the band is playing under a giant sponge. You know how some songs feature an intro in mono, muffled and coming out of one speaker on purpose? Then, after 30 seconds or so, the song kicks you in the gut in full, clear stereo? Well, a lot of the songs on this album sound like the intro part previously described. To put a finger on it, the bass is very big and prominent. (On one song in particular, the bass seems to actually replace the guitar as the main stringed instrument.) Certainly all involved in the songs suffer because of this.

Virtuoso singer Mark Boals criticism of Yngwie's production caused his most recent expulsion from the band. It doesn't matter that Boals was right. However, the production on these same horribly produced songs suddenly become very clear when? I'll let you guess…when the guitar solo comes around. It's a dramatic difference.

Shitty production notwithstanding, there are some good tracks on the album. "The Wizard," the sappy ballad "The Miracle of Life," "Wild One" and the instrumental tracks 6 and 9 are enjoyable listens, and the production seems to be better on these, too. Unfortunately , the other songs, like the redundant "Tarot," and the glammy "Bad Reputation," to name only two, are very skippable.

Oh, the "bonus track," "Black Sheep of the Family," is a reggae song, sung by what we suspect is Yngwie himself. For Yngwie fans, War to End All Wars is worth a listen at least. Buying it full-price is certainly not recommended, nor is it recommended to those who are not familiar with what the band Yngwie Malmsteen can offer. A shame that this effort was largely wasted due to the poor production.