Trilogy (Yngwie Malmsteen album)

Trilogy
Studio album by Yngwie Malmsteen
Released	October 1986 (1986-10)
Studio	The Village, Los Angeles
Genre	Heavy metal neoclassical metal
Length	40:58
Label	Polydor
Producer	Yngwie Malmsteen
Yngwie Malmsteen chronology
Marching Out (1985) Trilogy (1986) Odyssey (1988)
Singles from Trilogy
"You Don't Remember, I'll Never Forget" / "Crying" Released: September 1986 [1]

Trilogy is the third studio album by guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, released in October 1986 through Polydor Records. ^[2] The album reached No. 44 on the US Billboard 200 ^[3] and charted within the top 60 in the Netherlands and Sweden. ^[2]

Background

Trilogy is the first studio album by Malmsteen to feature lead singer Mark Boals, who briefly replaced Jeff Scott Soto after his departure from Malmsteen's band in 1985. However, Soto was again the lead singer during the album's supporting tour between 1986 and 1987, before joining the band Kryst the Conqueror.

In the liner notes, Malmsteen dedicates the album to the memory of the late Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, who was assassinated on 28 February 1986.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	8/10 [5]

Steve Huey at AllMusic gave Trilogy four stars out of five, calling it Malmsteen's second best album after his 1984 debut Rising Force . Malmsteen's compositional and lyrical skills were described as being at their peak on Trilogy, while his guitar work was praised as "jaw-droppingly fast and technically demanding". Huey listed "Dark Ages", "You Don't Remember, I'll Never Forget" and "Trilogy Suite Op: 5" as highlights. ^[4]

Metal Hammer included the album cover on their list of "50 most hilariously ugly rock and metal album covers ever". ^[6]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Yngwie Malmsteen.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"You Don't Remember, I'll Never Forget"	4:30
2.	"Liar"	4:09
3.	"Queen in Love"	4:04
4.	"Crying" (instrumental)	5:04
5.	"Fury"	3:56
6.	"Fire"	4:12
7.	"Magic Mirror"	3:53
8.	"Dark Ages"	3:54
9.	"Trilogy Suite Op: 5" (instrumental)	7:16
Total length:		40:58

Personnel

• Yngwie Malmsteen – guitar, Moog Taurus, bass, conducting, arrangement, mixing, production
• Mark Boals – vocals (except for tracks 4 & 9)
• Jens Johansson – keyboard, arrangement assistance (track 9; section 2)
• Anders Johansson – drums
• Ricky DeLena – engineering, mixing
• Jimmy Hoyson – engineering assistance
• Robin Levine – engineering assistance

Charts

Chart (1986-87)	Peak position
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [7]	80
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [8]	60
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) [9]	7
Japanese Albums (Oricon) [10]	16
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [11]	18
US Billboard 200 [12]	44

References

1. "FMQB" (PDF). p. 37.
2. "Yngwie J. Malmsteen - Trilogy (album)". finnishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
3. "Trilogy - Yngwie Malmsteen | Awards". AllMusic . All Media Network. Retrieved 2014-01-06.
4. Huey, Steve. "Trilogy - Yngwie Malmsteen". AllMusic . All Media Network. Retrieved 2014-01-06.
5. Popoff, Martin (November 1, 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 209. ISBN   978-1-894959-31-5.
6. Young, Simon (9 May 2023). "The 50 most hilariously ugly rock and metal album covers ever". Metal Hammer . Future plc . Retrieved 9 December 2024.
7. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 0861". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved May 2, 2025.
8. "Dutchcharts.nl – Yngwie J. Malmsteen – Trilogy" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2025.
9. Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN   978-951-1-21053-5.
10. Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN   4-87131-077-9.
11. "Swedishcharts.com – Yngwie J. Malmsteen – Trilogy". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2025.
12. "Yngwie Malmsteen Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved May 2, 2025.

External links

• Trilogy, 1986 at yngwiemalmsteen.com
• In Review: Yngwie J. Malmsteen "Trilogy" at Guitar Nine Records