Style: hard rock, AOR, blues rock
Label: Universal
Year: 2009
Home: Sweden
Members: Joey Tempest ~ vocals
John Norum ~ guitar
John Leven ~ bass
Mic Michaeli ~ keyboards/b. vocals
Ian Haugland ~ drums/b. vocals
Additional: Andreas Carlsson, Titiyo ~ b. vocals
Kleerup ~ b. vocals/backwards piano outro
Magnus Sjolander ~ percussion
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
I reviewed The Final Countdown by Europe, their biggest commercial album & the one everybody knows due to the title track. I'd never heard anything other than the title track, so I was looking forward to hearing the album. I was paintfully disappointed. All the things I loved in the title track where missing from the rest of the album. My biggest criticism of the album was: "After its
done playing I can't really remember what I've heard. Its not because
I'm busy or not paying attention, but because none of the songs jump out
at me. They all blend into each other as one long thing." I've found, more times than not, that there's a lot of bands from the '80's whose albums I don't care for so much. Yet, I like them now because their post-80's albums are awesome. Essentially, a lot of bands are making better music today. They don't have the hits coming, but they also don't have the label pressure to conform to a scene, while the scene they were a part of doesn't exist. Being there's no scene & no pressure, I've heard so many bands really make what I consider to be some of the best albums of their career. They have no limits put on them other than to make great music. Nobody is expecting anything of them. Plus they've grown as musicians, while many '80's singers have stopped doing the cliched tenor screaming & have more interesting baritones. I'd rather hear a gruff baritone than someone who can hit every note on the right half of the piano. So, I wondered if Europe might be in this boat? Answer: yes! This 2009 album, which was just a random youtube choice, hits me with the first track so much faster than anything on The Final Countdown outside the title track. The opening track, the title track "Last Look At Eden", is largely better than all of The Final Countdown! "Last Look At Eden" fuses heavy metal riffs with orchestral parts courtesy of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, versus synthesized strings. Joey's voice is a little rougher, but has more of a personality, plus feels fuller & more rounded. It has so much more feeling now that he's not screaming like his '80's peers. His older voice gives the music a blues feel never heard on the earlier album. While the guitar playing & rhythm section is just in your face fierce with lots of textures. I can't honestly say the title track is the most original song on the planet. I'm reminded a lot of contemporary Michael Sweet. Its good just the same, though, & worth a listen. As for the rest of the album, am I going to be let down again like I was on The Final Countdown? No, I'm not. This is a good strong album from start to finish. Lots of great music to dig into, great singing & it will have you rocking, with not a hint of filler. I almost feel bad comparing it to their earlier album, as its a completely different beast musically. For me that tried to rock, but this really does. I think its the fact the band is loose & experimenting here in a way they didn't before in their drive to be in the '80's template & find success in America. I'll hold up any of these songs to the entire album of The Final Countdown. Yet, two albums in to their catalog & I couldn't tell you what the Europe sound is to save my life. AOR? Hard rock? Power ballads? Big guitars? Blues rock? I hear nothing that connects these two albums. I lack words to describe what makes Europe different or unique when compared to other bands. Its bluesy AOR hard rock that is really well crafted, but a lot of bands do this now & at the time. I'm not going to call them groundbreaking. The songs are way stronger & more enjoyable here than the earlier album, & I'm more excited about the diversity of music, but I wish there was more personality & distinctiveness. This means if I turn to a third album I have no idea what I'm going to get. I should mention both albums have the same line-up, but you wouldn't necessarily know it. I do applaud them going out of the box with heavy keyboards in the past & with an orchestra now. I wished they did it more previously, that is more focus on the keyboards, while here I'd love to hear more of the orchestra beyond just a backing role that feels like the equivalent of a forgotten keyboardist. The band has described this album as a modern retro rock album. I disagree. I don't get a retro feeling. I get a blues rock feeling if anything. I've said in other reviews that bands like to say this, much like they like saying they are inspired by the Beatles. Its more often than not just empty words. This is no exception. They are marketing their album with attractive words. Nothing wrong with that, but don't expect the marketing to be true in this case. This is a modern rock beast with all the flavor of more mature modern metal with lots of polish & perfection. Though, I kept wondering if Michael Sweet was involved as it reminds me a lot of what he's doing. Far too much, actually. Allmusic compares this album with Led Zeppelin & Whitesnake. I completely disagree having hard all of those bands. I'm sticking to Michael Sweet. Having overblown songs named "Run With The Angels", "The Beast", "No Stone Unturned", "Gonna Get Ready" & "Last Look At Eden" is also in the corner of my argument.
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