Necrotica If there's any band that captured the cheese and excess of 80s glam metal to the highest degree, it would have to be Swedish rockers Europe. The act responsible for the incredibly bombastic The Final Countdown record, whose songs have been featured on countless commercials and still get consistent radio airplay to this day, Joey Tempest and co. were not afraid to make their flamboyant image and stage presence a key element in their performances and overall impact on the masses. Love them or hate them, Europe took the world by storm. But where would they go after making record after record of fun excess and synth-ridden hair metal cheese? Well, getting more serious would be a nice route to consider… and that's exactly what they did.

Europe went on hiatus around 1992 after the decent Prisoners in Paradise, but after over a decade of compilations and a temporary reunion, the official reunion finally came about in 2003. But once their comeback record Start from the Dark was actually released, people knew this wasn't the same Europe they listened to years ago. The overall sound was much more subdued and dark, and the elements of glam metal that popularized the band were replaced with a more straightforward metal/hard rock mix. Little did we know that Prisoners in Paradise would be the last glam-oriented album to date by Europe; ultimately, their new album War of Kings doesn't change this fact.

Joey Tempest stated that the band's biggest influences for this album were Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath, and he definitely means it. The entirety of War of Kings is slathered in bluesy midtempo metal anthems with crunchy guitars and a dark overall vibe surrounding each tune. Right from the strong title track that opens the album, the riffing is much more thick and slow than in your usual Europe record, and even the faster songs like "Hole in My Pocket" and "Light Me Up" maintain the same groovy guitar work and Whitesnake-esque blues-based songwriting. As for the vocals, though, Joey's work sounds closer to Ronnie James Dio during his 70s/80s heyday. It's actually really nice to hear his rawer side when combined with his typically charismatic power metal-influenced wails, and gives some nice variety to each performance.

However, it's not long until the problems start to crop up. War of Kings is very consistent, but perhaps too consistent. I know this is the band's tenth album, but are they just going to play it safe for the rest of their career? Do they expect their fans to believe that not taking any risks or experimenting with a few other sounds would be just fine? And that's the problem. There's no denying that things get very homogeneous and boring around the middle, the blandness pretty much peaking when "Praise You" and "California 405" rear their heads. It's sad too, because the album's best song "Nothin' to Ya'" is sandwiched right in between these tracks so some individuals may not even end up listening to it. But "Nothin' to Ya'" represents what this album does best, and that's the mixture of metal and blues that's characterized much of Europe's later work. They come off as their most inspired when playing in that style, and it's also the reason that their softer and more toned-down songs tend to fall flat. If you do want to check this album out, I'd suggest the title track, "Hole in My Pocket," "Light Me Up," and "Rainbow Bridge" as the best listens here. The other stuff is fine, but generally ranges from middling to flat-out boring. But this isn't the worst thing Europe's released… consider it a mild success, I guess.

(Originally published on Sea of Tranquility)

1967/ 1976 "Wings Of Tomorrow", 2nd album of Europe, is a magical album for me. This album contains some of Hard Rock / Heavy Metal songs between my favorite. So this is a special album in my discography.

"Stormwind" is a good opening track, with great atmospheres but remain a typical 80's metal song. "Scream Of An Anger" and his wha-wha distorted guitar in my mind sound like as proto Power Metal and the Hard Rock of "Open Your Heart" is a perfect 80's melodic metal song. "Treated Bad Again" is an interesting song but nothing more. "Aphasia" is a good neoclassical Hard Rock written by John Norum, not innovative but good with great guitars. "Wings Of Tomorrow" opens with one of my favorite guitar riffs. This song, beautiful still today, it sounds very 80's, which, in this case, is synonymous with magic. Great refrain. Also "Wasted Time" is a typical 80's Metal in the style of German bands and a good prototype of melodic Power Metal. "Lyin' Eyes" is very 80's, especially for being the classic melodic slow Speed ​​Metal (or accelerated Hard Rock) typical of 80's, when the band wanted to be aggressive. Great refrain, another typical passage of the 80's metal, with a solo in the style of Blackmore. "Dreamer" is a power ballad in a Scorpions style (see especially intro and solo and the general construction) with great magic and atmospheres. "Dance The Night Away" is similar to "Lyin 'Eyes" but it sounds more 80's (too) with angry guitars, angry vocals and mix of Thin Lizzy, UFO and Led Zeppelin.

Basically "Wings Of Tomorrow" is definitely an album to rediscover and re-evaluate. Also to understand the music, not just metal, of 80's

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.

Stephen If you only know Europe very well from their crucial award-winning "The Final Countdown", then it's wise to start backtracking their old catalogue as this eponymous debut marked the awakening of the mighty Swedish melodic metal giant, featuring the youthful aura and enthusiasm of singer Joey Tempest and guitarist John Norum. Europe opened the new chapter of their career by winning the local rock competition that sealed them a contract deal with Hot Records and also rewarded Best Singer and Guitarist Award respectively to both Tempest and Norum.

Early Europe's music is pure traditional heavy metal and you can listen to the evident tracks such as "In The Future To Come", "Farewell", "Children of This Time" or "Seven Doors Hotel". The latter mentioned song is their best track here and the first single that's successfully turned out as a huge hit in Japan. Other tracks that I like are: "The King Will Return", a typical 70s bluesy hard rock track, "Boyazont" that puts Norum at the spotlight with its killer shred, and a nice acoustical/keyboard power ballad, "Words of Wisdom".

The production is raw and not very good, and aside from a thin and quite sound, the album felt way too short. "Future" and "Hotel" are probably their most memorable tracks from this album, but you also can't miss several other underrated tracks that you can't get from a greatest hits collection. If you like classic hard rock or early 80s heavy metal, Europe's debut is a pleasant pick. Good start!

LittleBig Europe's Secret Society 2006 album is one of the most pleasant musical surprises I've ever experienced. I was pleased to see them come back (two years earlier, 2004)with Start from the Dark; the talented guitarist John Norum is back and his collaboration with vocalist Joey Tempest sounds better than ever. In fact I think the friendship that unites these five musicians is what helps them cooperate so well together.

So what can one expect from the new (and improved, I dare say) Europe? Heavier yet catchy riffs, blazing solos, soulful and expressive vocals, well written and more serious lyrics than before, a powerful rhythm section and nice keyboards atmosphere (and rare solos).

I know this is a subjective point of view but I've rarely been this excited about a comeback (of a band people often like to mock, well listen to this and see who's laughing now); the way I see it, there aren't any weak songs on this album, but I'll mention a few songs that really stand out: the title track, Let the Children Play, Wish I Could Believe, Brave and Beautiful Soul, Devil Sings the Blues.

I warmly recommend this album for anyone who enjoys the hard rock/glam metal genre, listen to this with an open mind, you might be pleasantly surprised.