Yngwie Malmsteen On His New Album “Parabellum,” Being A Versatile Musician, Alcatrazz, Hobbies, Fender Guitars & More

In a career that now spans more than 40 years, Yngwie Malmsteen has proven himself to be a unique artist. Hard to categorize in terms of genres — based on his compositions often fusing together metal, blues and classical music — Malmsteen now has a catalogue of 21 solo studio albums, following early albums with Alcatrazz and Steeler. On recent studio albums, the guitar hero has also taken to singing lead, playing all non-guitar instruments and producing the tracks.

Parabellum is Yngwie Malmsteen’s latest full-length album, as due out on July 23, 2021 via Music Theories Recordings and the Mascot Label Group. The album title itself is Latin, translating as “Prepare For War.” As Malmsteen offered in a prepared statement about this title: “There’s a track on the album called ‘(Si Vis Pacem) Parabellum.’ This translates as ‘If you want peace, then prepare for war’… It was a last minute decision to make this the album title. But I think it fits very well.” The striking portrait on the albym’s cover was painted by the accliamed artist David Benegas, and the painting itself is huge and set to raise money for the arts-centric, Mrs. Malmsteen-approved April Way Children’s Foundation.

On June 17, 2021, I had the pleasure of speaking with Yngwie Malmsteen via phone, as embedded below. Beyond Parabellum, we spoke about why he plays all the instruments on his albums these days, his familial musical roots, hobbies outside of music, and how the band Alcatrazz actually came together. More on Malmsteen and Parabellum can be found by clicking here, here and here.

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Tags: Alcatrazz, April Way Children’s Foundation, David Benegas, Guitar, Mascot Records, Sweden, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Yngwie Malmsteen

About the Author

Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."