It’s quite easy for people to write Europe off as a one song wonder, and a lot of rock fans do. The Final Countdown was massive and rightly so, it’s a good tune but it was like a poisoned chalice for the band, just like Survivor with Eye Of The Tiger. The band called a hiatus after their Prisoners In Paradise album, and no one knew if that was it. Well, in 2004 the band got back together for their Start From The Dark album, and ever since then they have released some of their best work with a slightly harder edge to the songs, Last Look At Eden is one of my favourite Europe albums.
This album was released in 2017 and it’s an awesome record. Walk The Earth sets things off nicely with that harder edge that I mentioned, and there is a Deep Purple vibe to the song mainly due to the Hammond organ. The Seige follows and I love the riff and groove, we are almost in Prog metal territory here. Kingdom United is very similar, a killer classic feel to this one with a great solo from John Norum. Joey is singing in a lower register on the album, which suits the material very well. Pictures could be from a 70’s Bowie album (a very eerie comparison indeed), a very emotive tune and you can hear the frailty in Joey’s voice a very epic sounding tune. Side 1 closes out with Election Day, an uptempo romp with a very quirky riff and the Purple comparisons are very strong.
Wolves opens up Side 2 with a very modern sounding guitar riff and groove. A slow paced tune but with that epic feel, and the solo is killer. GTO is very old school as it’s about fast cars and the open road, the vibe and groove are also very mid-seventies. A huge, fat, dropped, and tuned riff opens up Haze, and this is my favourite track. A very classic sounding tune with that heavy retro vibe. Beast of a tune! Whenever You’re Ready is just a straight up four to the floor classic rocker. The album close out with Turn To Dust. A classic power ballad where lyrically it’s looking back on life and pointing to the fact that we all have the same end. A great production by Dave Cobb giving the album a modern edge to a very classic sound.
9.5/10 from The Grooveman.
