Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Europe
Label: Ear Music Records
Release: 2012
Running time: 41:00
Rating: 4.5/5
Let me spare you the pain so you don’t waste time reading this review! All you Europe fans, rush to the nearest web shop and grab this album. With it, the guys have closed their circle of development. They’ve gone back to their roots and touched their very essence. Considering that this band started out as a »cover« band playing the classics of Thin Lizzy, Free, UFO, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, know that »Bag Of Bones« is finally, as the fourth album since the band’s reunion ten years ago, the thing we’ve been desperately waiting for all this time. First the guys were scrambling to find a different, modern groove to impress the masses; »Last Look Of Eden« (2009) already hinted at flirting with a retro sound, but it was plagued by seriously superficial production. It had potential, but came off lukewarm and intangible. With »Bag Of Bones«, though, Europe have put out an album that’s finally defined by the charisma and top-notch quality of the individuals who make up this band.
The key to success? Kevin Shirley! A sound engineer who finally managed to crack the band’s new-age tendencies in the studio. Of course, it takes two to tango. Europe reined themselves in a bit, stopped the horses, looked inward, quit hunting for a grip on »being different«, while Shirley fully grasped and effectively captured on »recording tape« the essence of the band’s development in 2012! John Norum certainly kept that dirty, down-tuned, noisily arrogant, guitar-hybridized sound of modern times, but until this day (counting from the day of the reunion) his guitar has never sounded so erotogenic within Europe’s vocabulary. Yes. Blues rock rules this album from head to toe! And that’s the point! And Shirley managed to place Norum’s new sound in the sonic picture so that it really does hammer out the fire of all cylinders from the »phantom corvette« for real, live, with a connotation of exceptional charisma and an erotogenic retro-blues vibe.
John Norum is one thing for Europe. But the even more important creator of this moment, when Europe closed their circle of development and truly reaffirmed themselves with »Bag Of Bones«, is (no need to guess) Joey Tempest. This time Joey threw all his eggs on the platter, slipped on his soul-improvisation shoes without any brakes, and gave the best he’s got. Tempest today is by no means pushing into the high altitudes; instead he makes use of his vocal range mostly in the middle register, where over the years he’s gained a velvety quality and the sensitive charisma of a mild throatiness (when he wants to bring it out), and in that range Tempest is strongest when it’s time to stress the message of a verse and bring emotion to life. The new album really doesn’t hold those back this time. And the rest of the quintet? Easy as pie. Given that these guys have played with the best and biggest rock artists on the planet, putting rock hardness across through the primary prism of bluesy erotogenicity and emotional allure is hardly science fiction. Working with Glenn Hughes in the mid-nineties, as his backing band, only strengthened the band members’ charisma. And today, with Tempest shamelessly wandering down the bends of soul on the new album more than ever, the strength of Europe’s supporting crew shows that much stronger, and the outward effect gets an extra boost from this chemistry.
Europe have created an extremely dense, concise, and thoroughly tangible album, bursting with realness and authentic rock voltage. The band grew up on the sounds of old-school classic rock bands. Already the opener Riches To Rags brings under one roof the vibe of inspiration from the legacy of Led Zeppelin (the opening riff), Deep Purple (the Hammond »squeezer«), Dio/late Black Sabbath (Tempest’s vocal approach). Not Supposed To Sing The Blues deepens the blues-rock breadth of the album, with a deliberate dash of Kashmir-style oriental charm. It’s the album’s first single, which once again confirms the exceptional strength of character in combining melodic catchiness with the rhetoric of the blues on »Bag Of Bones«. Firefox can be called the most epic moment on the album, while the funk groove in the verse gives Tempest a springboard for developing the soul element, in which the esteemed Glenn Hughes himself could also shine magnificently. The title track, with its delta blues ornamentation, is one of the album’s highlights. The band managed to bring in the red-hot Joe Bonamassa, who lays down solos on the »slide« guitar. Let me mention that Tempest and Norum have worn out every school bench of their joint career on acoustics, so they can’t hide it in this pairing! The song teasingly builds from a melancholy, acoustic-led opening verse into a super-expansion of the rock macho swagger of a potent chorus. My Woman My Friend will surely appeal to fans of Paul Rodgers and Free, Demon Head is once again a classic Europe cut, written more or less with Whitesnake fans in mind, while Drink And Smile can blast the listener straight onto Led Zeppelin’s third album. Mercy You Mercy Me could, in some other time and place, have been a classic Deep Purple romp, which today’s Gotthard also quickly grasp and understand without any trouble.
Sure, quite a few parallels with the biggest rock bands of our time have been described here, and yet it’s clear throughout that this is entirely a Europe album. And since Europe decided to gaze back nostalgically at their roots, it’s only logical that these parallels surface on »Bag Of Bones« too. Europe learned from the greatest, and the energetic ecstasy bursting out of this album is so intense that no artificially MTV-produced »plus EMŠO 2000 hacks« calling themselves a rock band can take that crown away from them today.
»Bag Of Bones« is the album on which Europe reaffirmed themselves. The mediocrity of the previous three releases is forgotten, and »Bag Of Bones« delivers, already in the first half of this year, one of the year’s high points in hard rock. No two ways about it. When old seasoned tomcats take on the thing they do best, nothing can possibly go wrong. A bomb of an album that will thrill all Europe fans, as well as everyone who gets fired up by the legacy of the greatest classic rock bands of pioneering pedigree! Rockers and all the other true »dog-tooth« believers of this world! This is an honestly heartfelt rock album for you! Now everybody get ready and keep an eye out for the band’s fresh tour dates!
Lineup
Joey Tempest – vocals, backing vocals
John Norum – guitar
Mic Michaeli – keyboards, backing vocals
John Leven – bass guitar
Ian Haugland – drums, backing vocals
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Joe Bonamassa – “slide” guitar on tracks 4 and 5
Anton Fig – percussion on track 4
Production
Kevin Shirley
Track list
1. Riches to Rags
2. Not Supposed to Sing the Blues
3. Firebox
4. Bag of Bones
5. Requiem
6. My Woman, My Friend
7. Demon Head
8. Drink and a Smile
9. Doghouse
10. Mercy You, Mercy Me
11. Bring it All Home
