Guitar legend Yngwie Malmsteen recently guested on Midlands Metalheads Radio to discuss his new album, Blue Lightning, released on March 29th. He also discussed his influences, but insists that guitarists like Jimi Hendrix did not, in fact, influence his playing

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Rock stars have been smashing guitars for decades, few with more enthusiasm than Swedish-born guitar virtuoso, Yngwie Malmsteen. Sandvik decided to test their cutting-edge technologies by building the world’s first all-metal, unbreakable guitar and letting Malmsteen unleash his smashing skills on it. Watch the video below, and read about the project here.

In other Malmsteen-related news, earMUSIC has announced the upcoming release, Generation Axe: The Guitars That Destroyed The World (Live In China), out on June 28. The first single, "Frankenstein", can be heard below.

Roaring sounds, cutting-edge solos, colossal power - Generation Axe is THE American rock guitarist supergroup formed by Steve Vai. For this superb project, the exceptional musician assembled the collective epitome of world-class rock guitarists by his side. Part of this group are, besides Vai himself, legendary guitar heroes Yngwie Malmsteen, Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne), Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme) and Tosin Abasi (Animals As Leaders).

After joining forces in 2016, Generation Axe toured North America in April and May 2016, and Asia in April 2017. Following the vast support, in  November and December of 2018 they performed an additional 32 city tour of North American tour.

The Generation Axe experience goes way beyond simply gathering five guitar greats on one stage to jam. According to Steve Vai, “The idea was to create a seamless show with one backing band and 5 completely accomplished and astonishing guitarists that take to the stage in various configurations, performing some of their solo music and merging together as cohesive co-creators of lushly orchestrated guitar extravaganzas.”

Generation Axe: The Guitars That Destroyed the World (Live in China) was culled from various performances on their last and very successful tour of Asia and marks a historical moment in music history.

The album will be released as a CD Digipak, Limited coloured 2LP+Download and Digital. Pre-order the album here. The first single, “Frankenstein”, can also be streamed and downloaded here.

Tracklisting:

Generation Axe - "Foreplay"
Tosin Abasi - "Tempting Time"
Tosin Abasi and Nuno Bettencourt - "Physical Education"
Nuno Bettencourt - "A Side Of Mash"
Nuno Bettencourt and Zakk Wylde - "Sideways"
Zakk Wylde - "Whipping Post"
Steve Vai - "Bad Horsie"
Yngwie Malmsteen - "Valhalla" / "Baroque n Roll" / "Overture" / "From A Thousand Cuts" / "Arpeggios From Hell" / "Far Beyond The Sun"
Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai - "Black Star"
Steve Vai / Zakk Wylde / Nuno Bettencourt / Tosin Abasi - "Frankenstein"
Generation Axe - "Highway Star"

"Frankenstein":