Review Summary: A Hard Rock classic that achieved the impossible.
The Final Countdown: one of the songs that defined a decade of hair spray abuse, flashy garments and a generation obsessed with space travel. A keyboard melody that would brand five young lads from Sweden forever with the hot rod of commercial success, and all because of a simple succession of notes conceived on a small Korg, probably while meditating in the toilet, that made Europe a very famous and a very rich band.
The record label in charge of such a sales behemoth, Epic records, had reasons to be worried that the money-making machine called "The Final Countdown" would run dry after 2 years of extensive touring, especially after the early departure of one of the band’s prominent figures, the legendary John Norum.
How could these five young and handsome chaps top the ridiculous success of "The Final Countdown"?
Well, the truth is that they never did. On the other hand, two long years after, little did Europe know that they were about to write the best album of their career.
With John Norum leaving the band during the
Final Countdown world tour, the band welcomed guitar virtuoso Kee Marcello, whose unbelievable guitar skills and phenomenal style would wrap up a fantastic piece of pure and honest hard rock called
Out of This World.
Far from their commercial success and in spite of the general sentiment that feared that the band would abandon themselves to a “drugs, sex and rock n'roll” lifestyle sponsored by spandex clothing and lacquer companies, simply following the bubblegum metal trend that was dominating the US at the time, Europe managed to keep their integrity as musicians intact while retaining their hit-factory reputation writing an album that would break new ground for them, both in songwriting, production and execution.
While opener and first single "Superstitious" has been regarded by many critics as one of Europe's best songs ever written, there is nothing to miss from the genre's catalogue in
Out of this World. Swoon-inducing guitar licks and solos like the ones displayed in "Let the Good Times Rock" or "Ready or Not" meet with classic ballads like "Coast to Coast", "Tomorrow" or the re-recorded and fantastic "Open Your Heart", originally published in their former (and prior
The Final Countdown) release
Wings of Tomorrow.
Europe's melodic forte is plain to see on tracks like "More than meets the Eye" or "Sign of the Times", where Joey Tempest's vocals and Kee Marcello's guitar chemistry boils like a marriage made in heaven. The rest of the band don't fall behind or restrain in showing their faith in their new record, with Mic Michaeli's keyboards magnifying songs like "Just the Beginning" or the bluesy "Never Say Die" and rhythm agents John Levén (bass) and Ian Haugland (drums) manifesting their aplomb in tracks like "Lights and Shadows", probably one of the darkest songs the band had attempted to write, with a slow mid-tempo rarely seen in Europe’s previous releases.
Out of this World is an album that had the impossible task to overcome the massive success of The Final Countdown, and while numbers showed it didn't accomplish such a daunting mission, the quality of the recording was enough to convince the people surrounding the band that this was the right direction, the one they believed in and the one that showed the world what they were capable of: To create a hard rock classic that would stay for the ages to come.
