Classic Rock Revisited recently spoke with guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen about his new album, Perpetual Flame. The following is an excerpt from the interview.

CRR: The first thing we need to talk about is Perpetual Flame. This album sounds more live than you have for a long time.

Yngwie: "All the stars aligned for this album. We made this record completely different than any record I have ever made. I have my own studio, so I have the luxury of doing it whenever I want. In the old days, you would spend five grand a day in the studio and it was serious pressure.

Normally, I just write the songs while I am noodling on my guitar when I am upstairs watching television. I would then get Patrick [Johansson] to do the live drums and I would write the bass and the guitar and whatever. On this particular instance, the songs were taking shape, so I went in the studio with Patrick and we did thirty songs, and I went on the road and forgot about it. I came back from tour, listened to it and picked out the songs that were really good. I put on some guitar and bass and then I went on tour again. I was in Istanbul and I was hanging out with some guys who were playing these strings and I had them add a string section. I have my laptop with me on tour with the backing tracks and ProTools on it. Normally, I start and finish an album right away, but this one took a long time, and that is a big difference.

When I came back from Russia, I was listening to the songs "Death Dealer" and "Four Horseman" and I knew that the singer I had was not going to cut it for what I was hearing in my head. So I brought in Ripper [Tim "Ripper" Owens]. He was in another band and he was leaving that band. He came down to Miami and he sang a couple of songs to just feel it out, and it was a no-brainer because it sounded so fucking good. I went back on tour to Germany and then came back and he sang some more.

Being the songwriter, the producer, and the arranger, it is actually hard to keep a distance and a good perspective on things. So it was actually really good for me to go away from it for a while and come back. It was also a great thing to bring in Roy Z to mix it. He came in like an outsider and he was very cool. I produced and engineered the whole thing. I miked up the drums and the whole nine yards. It was cool; I liked it. I have always been involved in that, but I have also always had an engineer there. I am getting better at it so I was confident enough that I could do it."

Go to this location for the complete interview.