Improving music that the general public accepts as classic or near a classic is an exceptionally hard task to do, and prove. As a musician, you strive to find perfection: even if fans are screaming their delight, point blank, at an album of yours, you know
something can be improved. Perfection is never reached in the artists’ eyes because they themselves know there is no such thing as perfect. It’s a ghost, a hallucination; a lost memory. So what could Covenant do when all their fans, all their press, and all their contemporaries held Sequencer as a perfect album?
Improve it, of course.
And that’s exactly what happens in Europa. And if it wasn’t obvious before that Covenant had started growing, this album will hit you on the head with it. An album that can be viewed as a snapshot of sorts in their carrier, it displays a band leaving their old sound and venturing anew. In the case of Covenant, their third album still has a strong industrial influence, yet at the same time Europa is pulling away farther into a lighter electronica (futurepop) and EBM sound. The song Wall Of Sound is a definite testimonial: subdued, affectionate harmonies fused with breathtaking sounds and a soft, almost ‘bubbly’ beat, it was the first entire song that devotes itself to this option of Covenant’s sound, foreshadowing major shifts and changes that would happen in later albums.
But the bands third release still contains much of their past albums’ rough aural aspects. Both driving and intrusive of sorts, the pounding beats continue to arise, sonically diverse dancefloor melodies converge with Eskil to make them even more pronounced, and the Covenant’s own novelty of explosive noise still make their way into this release. Continuing to layer sounds, it creates a sense of a sonic wall when appropriate. And that’s just the thing: Covenant have enough experience to figure out when and where to put little details or whole songs, enough wisdom to make the listener experience rather than hear there music. Both of these reached goals help contribute in what makes Europa a diverse and fruitful listen.
The other fact contributing to Europa’s unique listening is the vocals. Eskil’s voice is once again at the front of everything, but like the music, is half and half on style. Though remaining much the same as it has been throughout, there is a distinct change in execution. With his signature low-key, full and depressive, occasionally drawling voice being untouched with synths in most songs, it was a departure from his Dreams Of A Cryotank days. Synths all but forgotten though, exemplified in 2D and Riot as well as Tension and I Am. Distorted and twisted, it doesn’t do good as far as showing you what Eskil can do, but they are used in good measure and have a grandeur effect. These effects are also quite catchy and can stay with you for days.
Chock full of the signature Covenant sound, Europa still stands out as one of their seminal works. Because of the maturity the band has collected over the years, and shown accordingly, Europa is a definite piece of work in Covenant’s career. Like Sequencer before it, Europa brought huge transformations for the band; the most prominent is their first headlining tour of both the United States and Europe, while the least (yet maybe still has some significance…?) is winning an Artist Of The Year title by the Swedish Electronic Music Awards in 1997-98. However big or small, change came with this record, because with a record as good as this, Covenant couldn’t be ignored.
