helterskelter.ca

EUROPE
1984 - Wings Of Tomorrow.
1986 - The Final Countdown.
1988 - Out Of This World.
way more Helter Skelter.

February 24, 1984 - 2024: 40 years of: Wings Of Tomorrow.

Spread them wings !

Competition winners and rock-generators, Sweden's EUROPE aims high. Slick riffing, arenarock hooks and NWOBHM-rooted ...this on the loose rock is out of this world.

Nature awakens as "Stormwind" wipes Europe with loud rock and cool tricks. More giga-watts are shouted on the speed-freak "Scream Of Anger" and the skull-crackin' title-track "Wings Of Tomorrow".

Raw power takes the crowd hostage, as they are "Treated Bad Again", a heavymetal thumping cut and diametrically, the fast-paced "Wasted Time" displays the band's precise means of control. The powerballad legacy starts here, with the gather-along "Dreamer" adjacent to "Open Your Heart"s initial love draft. The seed is sown.

Putting aside the too obvious JUDAS PRIEST Screaming For Vengeance LP inspired cover-artwork, the boys did push adrenaline into the exciting Eurometal explosion of the era. The last lap for the Old Continent, as Sunset Strip would highjack the genre during this very calendar-year.

With full Force, EUROPE were now aiming to the top. The next chapter would hatch one of the 80s hardrockiest corner-stone: 1986's The Final Countdown LP.

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Wings Of Tomorrow = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FJe2yijNAk&list=OLAK5uy_nVUjG7akhjpP6m84RCi9caUYO01O_EQfw
Live Stockholm TV in 1984
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WGeVTj92xY

May 26, 1986 - 2021: 35 years of: The Final Countdown.

Sweden's EUROPE is: big hair & big hits ! 80s synonymous hardrock is still going strong, since their 2003 return. Seminal arena-rock from head-to-toe. The Americas got their asses hand-delivered on a silver-platter, and for a little while, EUROPE was on top of the rocknroll food-chain.

Call them Europe's BON JOVI or the Scandinavian DEF LEPPARD, Joey Tempest remains one of rocknroll's strongest voice... the voice of a generation !

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Then
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_IKcMl_a9A
...and now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxmKJlDqYC4

August 5, 1988 - 2023: 35 years of: Out Of This World.

Keep on rockin' that road !

Following the universal success of 1986's The Final Countdown LP, the arenas were now fully assaulted by ...arenarock. Attacked from both sides of the Atlantic, the loud-rock was real. The lovely race for mega tunes fuelled by mega attitude ...and Sweden's EUROPE was a top runner.

The opening-cut "Superstitious" keeps the flame burning bright. Keyboards and heavenly back-vocals, the signature is imminent and strong. More suave hardrock pierce from "Just The Beginning" and the crunch of "Lights And Shadows".

Raw-rock rear it's ugly head on "Let The Good Times Rock" and the headbangin' "Ready Or Not", while another high-quality powerballad rocks, in the form of the sincere re-vamped FM-cut "Open Your Heart". The best of US and UK melodic loud-rock in one accessible package: EUROPE is that band.

Major line-up change, as key-guitarist and founding-member John Norum had left during the last tour, we now welcome Kee Marcello in front of the Marshalls stacks.

RIAA-certified Platinum, the band would later make a turn in the new decade, with 1991's party-rock Prisoners In Paradise CD ...sadly released the same day as some Nevermind titled CD.

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Superstitous = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gU5Vg2JokU
Open Your Heart = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX4LC1HBmag
Let The Good Times Rock = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FckTNOTwEk
Out Of This World = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvUqntgGHMs&list=OLAK5uy_ljzx7JOqKfHS_7nB1Lg8EqXOEuAavMfCs
Interview in 1988
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvZn5JmFb-U
Live in Tokyo in 1988
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf0Dt7y6H8w