Stephen
I really don't have any high expectation that Europe is gonna bring back the Kee Marcello's melodic era, at least a bit, in their third post-reunion album, "Last Look At Eden" and boy did I guess it right. "Eden" continues what was left from "Secret Society" but this time, definitely an unfortunate result from Europe since the album was really lack of outstanding tracks. I can only count four great tracks and the rest are very average.
I always think that John Norum is the one who's responsible of infecting Europe's sound with the modern nuance but to see that most of the songs here were written by Tempest, it's highly unlikely that the keyboard-driven melodic rock is going to be in their top mind on the next release, and that feeling puts a little hole in my heart. If only they balanced this with at least three songs in the veins of "Prisoners" or "Out of The World" era, I'm convinced that the whole thing will be much better and perhaps, more acceptable to many fans.
Songs like "New Love In Town" or "In My Time" are few that really stands out, the title track has an epic feel to it, I have a mix feeling at first but the strong melodic chorus is enough to capture me. "Gonna Get Ready" is pretty similar, another good track as well. "The Beast" is my most fave track here, if you like the early era of Europe, this is one hellacious tune of true heavy metal, the blistering drums, the heavy riffs, the scream, they're all there. But songs like "Mojito Girl", "Only Young Twice", or "Run With The Angels" are a major disappointment.
As an old-time fan, I must conclude that this is by far the weakest release of Europe's modern era, and the worst album they ever made. But makes no mistake though, this one's not absolutely horrible, several great songs, some okay songs, and probably few fillers. Only if you compare it to the two previous albums, "Start From The Dark" is slightly better and "Secret Society" is perhaps the best of those three. The production, however, is great, warm, and detailed. If you're a fan of Europe, this has to go into your collection especially for the songs "The Beast" and "In My Time" alone, but if you're a casual fan of glam/melodic rock, there are a lot of better 2009 albums to buy out there.