Last studio album from
Europe was "Prisoners in Paradise", which was released in 1991. After a 13-year recording hiatus
Europe is back.
As always when we deal with re-union of 80's bands in classic line ups, there is the fine line between making an album that sticks to your roots and at the same time shows progression. Most fans expect an album sounding like classic
Europe albums, but still want to trace progress.
"Start from the Dark" blends the harder edge of
Europe's older material, pre- Final Countdown with a modern twist to the songwriting and especially an up-dated guitar sound.
Europe almost totally neglect the poppy keyboard oriented style that dominated
Europe's most successful releases "The Final Countdown" and "Out of this world".
I think "Start from the Dark" is a bitter pill for many fans to swallow, since it is not a blast from the past. The commercial sound is long forgotten, but after some listens "Start from the Dark" actually has quite a few highlights. I admit that I was very skeptical in the beginning, but "Start from the Dark" is a solid release. However, it definitely won't surpass my personal favorites "The Final Countdown" and "Prisoners in Paradise". Since the album is diverse and some songs deviate from
Europe's old hit formula, here is a track by track review:
Got to have Faith is either a fantastic or a bad track. It's a rather mediocre opener to the album and immediately the newer direction is spotted. The chorus is not a sing-along like the old days, but still the song grows on you and becomes quite good.
Start from the Dark is certainly among my favorites. The song has a strong chorus and features some great riffs from John Norum. Norum really shines on the solo and his up-dated guitar sound is very characteristic for
Europe's sound.
Speaking of up-dated sound -
Flames is a perfect example of
Europe 2004. The sound plus the lyrics are dark and the tuned down guitar really deviates from classic
Europe stuff. No matter what, it actually works for
Europe on
Flames. The song evolves around the strong chorus.
Speaking of classic
Europe -
Hero is the song closest to the
Europe we all know.
Hero is the album's diamond with a very cool chord progression and fantastic melody.
Hero has that classic Tempest melodic feel to the chorus.
Wake Up Call is another favorite of mine. Except for the album opener, the album's first part has a very strong streak and
Wake Up Call is the fourth strong song in a row on "Start from the Dark". The signature riff from Norum is brilliant and very memorable.
Reason has a cool emotion to the chorus. Again the style is very dark and
Reason is a ballad like thing with a very slow and not particular strong verse. The chorus is quite good and
Reason displays a very moody
Europe. Norum masters a very melodic solo that fits the song perfect.
When I buy a
Europe CD I expect a certain style.
Song #12 is an unsuccessful attempt to develop
Europe's music. Tempest's complaining voice, a monotone drive and use of sound effects displays the dissimilarity on "Start from the Dark". Unfortunately this is in a very negative way.
Roll With You almost puts you back on track. The chorus is very good and even though the piano driven moody ballad is an all right track you feel something is missing.
Sucker features some heavy drums and a very brutal sounding Norum.
Europe is best when they focus on the chorus and
Sucker really loads the guns to fire in the chorus. However, I feel the chorus could have been a little better since the great verse really promises a great chorus.
A moody piano starts
Spirit of the Underdog and you expect a great ballad. Norum breaks the sweetish song with a very aggressive and heavy guitar. Again this is a very modern sounding
Europe and contrary to
Song #12 I think it works on this one. However, you do miss the great melodic choruses, which
Europe has neglected on "Start from the Dark".
America is a mediocre up-tempo track with a pretty good verse and an ordinary chorus, which makes it insignificant. John Norum's solo saves a little of the track's dignity.
Settle for Love might as well have been on an earlier
Europe record, since is half-acoustic ballad with Tempest taking control. A very electric record ends very soft.
Hmmm. I am a bit torn with this release. Some of the great songs like
Flames,
Hero,
Wake Up Call and the title track keep getting better. However, the last part of the album has a few insignificant tracks and an overload of standard tracks. If
Europe had continued the quality of the first 6 songs "Start from the Dark" would have been a modern but great sounding
Europe, where we would applaud them for exploring new things and directions. However, "Start from the Dark" is something in between.
Europe's new heavy approach characterized by Norum's guitars is at the expense of memorable hooks and I feel it doesn't have to be that way.
Hero, the title track and the modern
Flames are perfect examples of the modern approach without losing melody.
The last part of the disc ruins the flow and drags down the overall impression. Even though
Europe starts from the dark there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I feel this is a transition record for
Europe. With Norum back in the band
Europe sound really tight and they need to find their fixed place in the music business in year 2004.
I might be a bit hard on
Europe, but I connect the
Europe brand with high quality Hard Rock and they only partly deliver the goods on "Start from the Dark". All in all a handful of really strong tracks saves the album and even though this isn't a smashing comeback album in anyway it has its moments, which saves
Europe a very delicate 7 in our rating system.
Written by
Michael Thursday, November 4, 2004
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