Yngwie Malmsteen – Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad

If there were a definitive list of things that should have been left back in the 1980s, I think even a large number of modern rock fans would agree that the concept of “Hair Metal” would be on it.

But at its best, ‘eighties “Hair Metal” was something whose technical spectacle was mind boggling. It could so easily be mocked, as the movie This is Spinal Tap demonstrated with the epitome of aplomb. And it could also rank among the most proficient displays of musicianship across any genre in that era. If you were fed up with buying albums on which the lead vocalist appeared at the top of the personnel listing, this one might provide the change you were looking for…