SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: EUROPE – COME THIS MADNESS

EUROPE
COME THIS MADNESS
HELL & BACK RECORDINGS

It has been far too long since we have had a new album from Europe. However, Come This Madness is well worth the wait, and may just be their best album. Come This Madness is the band’s 12th album, and they have pulled out all the stops. They have incorporated strong melodies, power, hard driving music, and brilliant lyrics. While they have always had a hard sound, on this album, the band turns up the amps on a few songs but never loses sight of the song.

Songs like the power ballad “This Time of Year”, a piano based treat, features fine vocals from lead singer Joey Tempest. The song features a tasteful guitar solo by John Norum and beautiful piano/keyboards from Mic Michaeli. It really comes together perfectly in this song. Elsewhere, the band lets loose, letting the guitars dominate, on songs such as “The Devil’s Back” or the title track. And the band also incorporated some prog sounds, such as the all too short “In the Absence of Grace” leading into the stunning “The Angels Must Have Flown”.

SPILL FEATURE: HILLS AND VALLEYS, THAT IS HOW WE ROLL – A CONVERSATION WITH MIC MICHAELI OF EUROPE

Producer Tom Dalgety (Ghost, Rammstein, Pixies, The Cult, Opeth) brings a great deal to the album and clearly helped the band shape Come This Madness into the extremely strong and brilliant album that it is. They have a couple of guests on the album (Tobias Forge of Ghost and Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt). Although they bring a lot to the album, Come This Madness is pure Europe.

Europe has perfected their sound over time, and yet they never repeat themselves. Although there are trademark moments on the album, Come This Madness has many surprises and is an album that has many hidden and layered moments that are only discovered on repeated listens.

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