Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Europe
Label: Hell & Back Recordings
Release: 2017
Length: 40:59
Rating: 4.5/5
The legendary Swedish hard rock institution Europe is back after just two years with a new studio album titled »Walk the Earth«. Europe haven’t written their own music in the mold of those famous hits from the second half of the eighties for years now, even though plenty of people fiercely demanded exactly that after the reunion. The guys have matured artistically and write new music strictly for their own pleasure and enjoyment. So the post-millennium studio efforts, especially »Bag of Bones«, »War of Kings« and now the latest, »Walk the Earth«, make it clear that Europe have come full circle and that today they play a brand of hard rock that draws its inspiration from the bands the guys listened to as teenagers. Those influences are very noticeable on »Walk the Earth« in particular. More than on the previous two albums, which proves that Europe, as musicians, have gone back to their roots, to their primal source and artistic core.
Where »Bag of Bones« leaned a bit more toward the bluesy side, the more musical »War of Kings« was Europe’s stepping stone to the latest »Walk the Earth«. And that one, to put it bluntly, is one of the darkest, gloomiest records of Europe’s entire career.
The opening title track and right after it the second one, The Siege, set up an incredibly gripping, dark atmosphere on the album, with the lead phrases also showing quite a bit of fascination with the melos of arabesques. At a mid-tempo pace that dark atmosphere gets even deeper, and in both tracks it’s not hard to find plenty of Rainbow, Deep Purpe, Glenn Hughes solo and Led Zeppelin references (the epic rock’n’roll classics Stargazer, Perfect Strangers, Kashmir). The third track, Kingdom United, especially in its opening main riff and verse, shows the band’s eternal love for Thin Lizzy. Worth stressing here that Joey Tempest, who once again shines with his outstanding vocals on this album, has always been a huge Thin Lizzy fan, and the very meter of the verses in the vocal lines evokes the characteristic vocal approach of the late Phil Lynott (the vocal colors of the two singers remain incomparable).
The fourth track, Pictures, is the absolute oddball of the album. It’s a kind of tribute to David Bowie, with Tempest deliberately and soulfully breathing in the essence of Bowie’s vocal style. Since Europe are hard rockers, though, the tune is an interesting mix of elements from Space Odditiy, which, with its emphasized classical piano arrangements, evokes the proto-prog-rock essence of Procol Harum. A killer track, surely one of the strongest points of »Walk the Earth« and a brilliant atmospheric, dynamic shake-up in the album’s string of moods. In the rest of the album the influences of the old hard rock school (Deep Purple, Glenn Hughes solo) keep coming through, especially in GTO (which evokes the moves of the DP classic Burn) and the thoroughly dark Haze, which Glenn Hughes would happily sing today for Black Country Communion. In a different scenario, of course, namely B.C.C. For the very end of the album Europe save the most dramatic test, Turn to Dust. One of the strongest compositions, a seriously dark epic, with an atmosphere that gives you goosebumps as you listen and with all the emotional intensity captured that a band at this stage of its evolution in 2017 can muster. An incredibly strong closer to this release, one that simply forces you to hit the »repeat« button on the CD player and play the whole album, start to finish, all over again.
On this album Europe have built a string of outstanding compositions. Outstanding especially in terms of the gripping catchiness of the dark, melancholic atmosphere that soaks the whole album. The »mid-eight« passages are packed with dramatic musical modulations and a superb dialogue between keyboards and guitar. John Norum simply shines with finely crafted solos, strictly making sure the drama theater keeps running in the tracks. In Wolves, where the guitar sounds especially fat and tuned lower, he delivers one of the most vivid and at the same time finest solos on the album. Also when it comes to the display of passion and emotion. Norum is outstanding. Outstanding again, and with his work he once more confirms his exceptional mastery as a true guitar grandmaster. He’s giving his best once again.
Throughout, Europe build a superb backdrop combining compact guitar phrases and chunky Hammond lines, and in the transitional parts, or in the intros and even outros of songs, they even reach for sounds that lean toward the Mellotron. So they’re trying out a few novelties, which are already known in the music world anyway, but that isn’t even important. What matters is that »Walk the Earth« is an album like Europe have never made before, yet at the same time it’s through and through a classic Europe album, on which the band delivers its musical content in its best creative, artistic way.
Europe – Walk the Earth (official video):
Lineup
Joey Tempest – vocals
John Norum – guitar
Mic Michaeli – keyboards
John Leven – bass
Ian Haugland – drums
Production
Dave Cobb
Tracklist
1. Walk The Earth
2. The Siege
3. Kingdom United
4. Pictures
5. Election Day
6. Wolves
7. GTO
8. Haze
9. Whenever You’re Ready
10. Turn To Dust
