Watch: Ex-YNGWIE MALMSTEEN Singer MATS LEVÉN Performs Entire 'Facing The Animal' Album In Japan

Earlier this month, Mats Levén played two shows at Otsuka Hearts Plus in Tokyo, Japan that focused heavily on the material from the sole Yngwie Malmsteen album the Swedish singer appeared on, 1997's "Facing The Animal". Backing Mats at the gigs were Jien Takahashi (guitar),Ollie Bernstein (bass),Kohta (keyboards) and Kouta Mikawa (drums).

Fan-filmed of the second of the two concerts, which took place on May 12, can be seen below.

According to Setlist.fm, the setlist for the show was as follows:

01. Braveheart (Yngwie Malmsteen song)
02. Sacrifice (Yngwie Malmsteen song)
03. Heathens From The North (Yngwie Malmsteen song)
04. Enemy (Yngwie Malmsteen song)
05. End Of My Rope (Yngwie Malmsteen song)
06. Alone In Paradise (Yngwie Malmsteen song)
07. My Resurrection (Yngwie Malmsteen song)
08. Playing With Fire (Yngwie Malmsteen song) ("Facing the Animal" demo track)
09. Poison In Your Veins (Yngwie Malmsteen song)
10. Air On A Theme (Yngwie Malmsteen song)
11. Like An Angel (For April) (Yngwie Malmsteen song)
12. Only The Strong (Yngwie Malmsteen song)
13. Casting Pearls Before The Swine (Yngwie Malmsteen song)
14. Another Time (Yngwie Malmsteen song)
15. Facing The Animal (Yngwie Malmsteen song)

Encore:

16. Hit The Ground Running (VANDENBERG song)
17. Rock 'N' Roll City (SWEDISH EROTICA song)
18. Fallen Angel (AT VANCE song)

In a backstage interview with Stefan Nilsson of Roppongi Rocks, Mats stated about his decision to revisit the "Facing The Animal" material nearly three decades later (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, it kind of felt like they wanted me to do Yngwie stuff, so we said, 'Okay, let's do the whole album,' 'cause it's a pretty cool album. It was, like, ridiculous to do it, because it's so much work to learn all the lyrics again, because I refuse to look at monitors or anything, so... But it was cool. I made it. I remembered the lyrics. And it's cool to play it 28 years later in the original keys, so it's like a challenge. But we did it really well. The guys played really well… It [was] awesome. We just had a really good show. I'm happy."

Asked if these will be the only two shows featuring a performance of "Facing The Animal" in its entirety, Mats said: "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I might do it somewhere else. I had some requests, but I have to wait and see. I've got a lot of shows with VANDENBERG for the rest of the year."

Last December, Yngwie blasted some of the singers he worked with early in his solo career for allegedly "trying to capitalize from [his] brand". The 62-year-old musician, who has worked with a number of acclaimed vocalists over the years, including Jeff Scott Soto, Mark Boals, Joe Lynn Turner, Göran Edman, Michael Vescera, Mats Levén and Tim "Ripper" Owens, with Nick Marino most recently handling some of the vocal duties live, took to his social media to write: "So it has come to my attention that these hired and paid singers that I hired for my solo records are all trying to capitalize from my brand!

"Let's be clear: performing on MY SOLO records does not equal ownership, authorship, or legacy. Writing a line here and there doesn't make someone a songwriter, and singing my material doesn't make it theirs. They were merely given a salary (work for hire) to put down MY written parts, just like the keyboard player, bassist, drummer etc.

"If the only way you can tour or get attention is by leaning on my brand and using my name and album titles and my SOLO catalog, then you've already answered the question of who actually built something. And -What have they recorded/created the last 30,40 years?"

It's unclear what prompted Malmsteen's outburst, but it could have had something to do with the fact that Levén had already announced at that point that he would play two shows in Japan focusing on "Facing The Animal". Separately, Boals and Vescera have announced a European tour for September 2026 dubbed "The Seventh Trilogy Tour". An admat for the tour shared on social media bills the singers as "The Voices Of Yngwie Malmsteen."

Boals appeared on four Yngwie studio albums, including the hard rock classic "Trilogy".

Vescera recorded two full-length studio records with Malmsteen as well as an EP, various videos and the "Live At Budokan" DVD in the 1990s.

Earlier in December, Mats was asked by a fan if he had any input when it came to writing the lyrics for "Facing The Animal". The Swedish singer responded: "Well, at bit different from song to song…a song like 'Braveheart', Yngwie had the title to the song and then I wrote most of the lyric and some melody lines.

"Yngwie was quite open to letting me contribute. I wrote 30-35% of the 'Facing The Animal' album.

"'Alone In Paradise' was an old idea from the 'Odyssey' [album]. I only completed that lyric. Actually, Joe Lynn Turner's backing vocals were still there when we recorded. Tracks like 'Enemy' and 'Facing The Animal', I wrote all lyrics and melody lines for."

After working with some of the top hard singers of the past four decades, Yngwie now handles much of the lead vocals himself in his own band, backed by a lineup that includes keyboardist Nick Marino, bassist Emilio Martinez and drummer Kevin Klingenschmid.

Only four of the songs on Yngwie's latest album, 2021's "Parabellum" featured vocals. The album title is Latin, translating as "Prepare For War".

Yngwie released a live album, "Tokyo Live", in April 2025 via Music Theories Recordings. The concert was recorded at the Zepp DiverCity, Tokyo on May 11, 2024 as part of Yngwie's 40th-anniversary world tour.