Simon RushworthEurope — Come This Madness (Silver Lining Music)
With Europe set to kick off The Final Countdown 40th Anniversary Tour in Glasgow later this month, the easy move would have been to return to the band’s hair metal roots in 2026.
Just imagine the unbridled joy felt by those early adopters, as Joey Tempest and co. dusted off their shoulder pads and spandex to reprise that record’s classic title track plus Carrie, Rock The Night and more.
Think a future classic, firmly rooted in the band’s 80s past.
One more set of perfectly polished pop metal to complement a multi-platinum chart-busting beast.
Or not.
Save for a few subtle nods to the band’s storied commercial peak, Come This Madness is nothing like the Europe of old.
It’s another bold move, rather than the easy move.
And it shines a light on a five-piece perfectly comfortable pushing the boundaries without lazily trashing their legacy.
Europe’s first long player in almost a decade bristles with the blues rock bombast that marries Tempest’s earliest influences with his latter-day ambition.
It’s a familiar sound embraced by loyal fans who’ve long since locked into a stellar run of records that started with 2004 ‘comeback’ Start From The Dark and, perhaps, peaked with the colossal War Of Kings.
Come This Madness captures the determined mood of five men who have always understood the power of music to spark debate and shape opinion (Cherokee, anyone?).
And for every pointed lyric there’s a razor-sharp riff courtesy of the peerless John Norum.
For as long as Europe keep making records like this, the band’s final countdown remains reassuringly distant.
Europe thrive In A Different World
If there’s one song here that strives to link the past with the present, it’s the reflective In A Different World.
Mixing Europe MkII’s heavy blues with the pop rock sensibility of the band’s formative years, it’s an earworm of a track driven by Mic Michaeli’s intuitive keys and capped off with a soaring two-part Norum solo.
When Tempest sings ‘so here’s to the future/how could we go wrong’ it’s tempting to imagine that lyric’s been floating around for at least the last 40 years…
In truth, it’s Norum who stamps his mark on a Europe record like never before.
The Angels Must Have Flown is pure guitar heaven and then there’s the swaggering intro. to Takin’ It Back.
Come This Madness is a six-string masterclass that’ll have you digging out 1987’s Total Control and revelling in four decades of fret-melting magnificence.
Tempest has his big moment on the sub-90 second, orchestral tinged In The Absence Of Grace: it’s stripped down, thought-provoking, powerful stuff.
Of course Rushonrock’s a sucker for a ballad.
And This Time Of Year is one of Europe’s best. Michaeli brings the magic — just as he did all those years ago — with a simple yet perfect piano riff. Just beautiful.
Come This Madness is insanely good. Minds blown.
