Swedish guitar hero YNGWIE MALMSTEEN spoke with Greg Prato from the UGO Music Blog recently about a number of topics including his new album, Perpetual Flame, which will be released on October 14th via Rising Force Records (distributed via Koch).

A few excerpts from the chat follow:

UGO.com: How did you hook up with Ripper Owens?

Yngwie Malmsteen: "I started writing the songs, and once I started recording them with the drummer, Patrick [Johansson], I realized, 'Wow, this is turning out to be pretty heavy.' Then I started writing the lyrics and melodies, and all the songs started to take form – that’s when I realized I needed to have another singer. Because the songs started taking on their own life. What I envisioned in my head, it needed something more powerful. We’d been crossing paths a long time – me and Ripper – I don’t know exactly how it happened, but we hooked up, he came down and sang a couple of songs to try out, and that was it. We both realized that was it."

UGO.com: How would you compare working with Ripper to the previous singers you’ve worked with over the years?

Yngwie Malmsteen: "He’s very cool to work with. I have a very strong vision of what I’m going for – I showed him the parts and he delivers really well. I’m very pleased with that."

UGO.com: What are some of your favorite tracks from Perpetual Flame?

Yngwie Malmsteen: "They’re all ‘my children,’ so I love them all. Of course, every time I think of one song, it will have a lot of meaning, like 'Death Dealer' – I love the high energy double bass, 'Red Devil'. The instrumental, 'Caprici di Diablo', is the hardest thing I’ve ever played in my life! I can go on – every song has a very strong value to me.

Read more here.

According to a press release, Perpetual Flame is 12 tracks of pure six-string metallic bliss (which stretches to almost 70 minutes total). The album was produced and engineered by Yngwie himself, and mixed by Roy Z (who has previously worked with Judas Priest and Bruce Dickinson, among others). Joining Yngwie and Ripper on the album is keyboardist Derek Sherinian and drummer Patrick Johansson (Yngwie contributed bass, additional keyboards, and vocals, as well), but on tour, Michael Troy will supply keyboards, and Bjorn Englen will be laying down the bass. A supporting tour of the US and Canada is slated to run through all of October.

Single-handedly, Yngwie Malmsteen trailblazed the classical metal movement in the 1980's. During a time when the majority of guitarists were merely copying Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie was one of the few rock guitarists to create his own instantly-identifiable playing style – which has been subsequently mimicked by countless other guitarists. Yngwie is responsible for issuing some of the metal's all-time great guitar classics, especially such releases as 1984's Rising Force, 1985's Marching Out, 1992's Fire And Ice, and most recently, 2005's Unleash The Fury.

In addition to the arrival of Perpetual Flame in October, another career highlight is slated for that same month – Yngwie will be inducted into the Rock Walk on Monday, October 13th in Los Angeles.

Additionally a new Fender/Yngwie Malmsteen custom shop guitar will be unveiled on November 28th (with a limited run of 100 instruments) and there will be a slew of CD reissues of Yngwie classics to soon be announced.

Complete tracklisting for Perpetual Flame: 'Death Dealer', 'Damnation Game', 'Live To Fight (Another Day)', 'Red Devil', 'Four Horsemen (Of The Apocalypse)', 'Priest Of The Unholy', 'Be Careful What You Wish For', 'Caprici Di Diablo', 'Lament', 'Magic City', 'Eleventh Hour', 'Heavy Heart'.

Upcoming Malmsteen live dates:

September

28 - San Juan, PR - Centro de Bellas Artes

October

4 - San Antonio, TX - Scoutbar
5 - Dallas, TX - House Of Blues
8 - San Diego, CA - House Of Blues
9 - Anaheim, CA - House Of Blues
10 - Las Vegas, NV - House Of Blues
11 - Ventura, CA - Majestic Ventura Theater
12 - Los Angeles, CA - Avalon
17 - Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Theater
18 - Cleveland, OH - Agora
19 - Chicago, IL - House Of Blues
21 - Williamsville, NY - Club Infinity
23 - Wantagh, NY - Mulcahy's
24 - Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom
25 - Lancaster, PA - Chameleon Club (new date)
26 - New York, NY - Blender Theater
29 - Nashville, TN - Cannery Ballroom

November

2 - St. Petersburg, FL - Jannus Landing