Metal Reviews

Man, this album is a fucking classic. I wonder why no one ever talks about it. It's by far their most rocking and most metal album. WHen I first heard this album I was suprised for about two months about how no one had heard about it. Maybe its just cause the band isnt that big in the states, but it fuckin rules.

Yes it's a classic along with Wings Of Tomorrow.

I wish Europe would go back to their sound of their first 2. Not the syrupy Final Countdown stuff but their harder more edgier stuff they did with their s/t and WOT.

Oh by the way I'm sure people have heard it but they are too focused on TFC to even care.

Most fans say if it doesn't have over the top synths then they don't care.

The Final Countdown is such an awesome song. It's Gob Bluths theme song!

it's all I ever think about when I hear Europe mentioned

not tircks, they are illusions. tricks are what prostitutes do for money.

You guys need a history lesson.

Europe's third album, which became the final countdown was originally "mixed" with far less keyboards, more guitars and was very close to the older material and was solidly a heavy metal album...


Until CBS/Epic records decided that the guy (can't remember his name and he may of actually produced it to) who mixed all of Journey's hit records should be the man to mix the Final Countdown. The band clearly and decidedly believed the record they intended to make would would be mastered and released. None of the band members were present during the mixing. Subsequently, CBS and the producer/mixer approved a much much more pop oriented and much more AOR sounding master that the band was very unhappy with, because thier songs sounds very little likew they did when they got the final mix back. John Norum quit the band over the production and lack of guitars, and i'm guessing here, probably feeling that the band had absolutely no control over their music any longer.

TFC sold about 15 million copies, nope, not because of "The Final Countdown" though that might have helped. I was too young, but I think they were using it for sports broadcasts. but because "Carrie" was a huge Billboard hit on the pop charts. It was one of the biggest hits of the year.

The follow up album to TFC sold somewhere around 5 million units. The record company considered it a commercial failure.

Don't sign with a major label.

Not gonna lie, I got Europe for the ol tape deck in the car and I'll throw it on every now and then for kicks.

Cherokee! Marchin' on the trail of tears!

Final Countdown was the first hard rock/metal-oriented I have ever listened to. I'm still fond of it though I learned what real metal was now.
As for their debut, I think it's a good album but not as entertaining as TFC is.

You have to look at their s/t and WOT as nothing but hard rocking albums. You can't compare the 2 with TFC because their first 2 was before they went to syrup laden pop metal.

Yes TFC is a good album and brought me out the pop rock stuff I was listening to before but I still prefer their harder stuff more so than TFC.

I really don't care if TFC was more softer or poppy or whatever. I love it. And except for Dreamer, WOT kicks ass. How is The Last Look At Eden?

For those of you having a difficult time finding "Prisoners in Paradise" the Japanese Remaster is perfect. The original sounds very very weird and scratchy the first 3 times I d'led it, so I gotta assume it was a problem with the original pressing.

The production is amazing on PIP. I think someone forgot to anti-alias and dither the digital transfer, hence it sounds like if you take a 48khz file and stick it on a redbook CD.

PIP sucked badly. If they wanted to do a blues style of rock album maybe they should have called the boys of Cinderella to give them pointers because the final product was crap.

And that was the starting point of a downward spiral that has been Europe's releases. Like I mentioned earlier in the thread I wish they would go back to the style of their first 2 albums and leave this modern rock crap behind.

Joey Tempest is an exceptional singer but he sounds so tired and stale these days maybe something a lot harder would jolt his vocal range back into sync.

Yeah. I can understand where that is coming from considering John Norum had left the group once he heard the final mix of "The Final Countdown."

Pretty much when bands start messing with the dynamics of the songwriting team, the product turns to shit. Pro songwriters and producers can hide that for an album or two by basically making sound-alikes and reusing the same melodies or ones close enough to it to sound recognizable without repeating themselves.

I think that is pretty much the case here and it adds to the other discussion because pretty much without a big budget they weren't able to keep up the pace or quality.

I enjoy europe. A strong vocalist and they made very good memorable ballads & rockers in their early discog.
I think most people believe Europes first three to be classics. Even knowledgeable Americans. Although its true. Here in the states we get too caught up with Metallica, ACDC, and lynard Skynard. The average joe in the States is not very versatile when it comes to various forms of music let alone hard rock or metal. I know I live here as you should too, so i know you were not suprised

I was born in 1985 and was even so was part of the "MTV generation" so finding something like this was both unexpected and amazing at the same time.

I really didn't find the music I loved until I was 19. The old stff sticks with me like it the greatest on earth too, but finding underground metal was exactly my calling.

I'd refuse a million dollar nickelback like deal over a 5,000 Century Media deal no matter what I love this stuff so much.