Description

2009 Wounded Bird Records press

Many people dismiss the band Europe and this particular release, which came before their commercial material, seems to have fallen in the cracks with those discs that are long forgotten. Europe did rocket to superstardom with ‘The Final Countdown’ a couple of years after this, but the second album, ‘Wings Of Tomorrow’ was truly their magnum opus. Heavier and much more metal than anything they did after it, yet more polished, precise and expertly executed than their fledgling debut, a mere year earlier, it was a blend of near perfection. Vocalist Joey Tempest turns in a performance of a lifetime, bubbling with passion of the tender or blistering kind, in a solid as steel rock voice that never wavers or bends. He’s dead on throughout and bristles with fury along with the best of them. I bet those only familiar with the commercialized lovey dove pop pap of ‘Carrie’ would be shocked to hear some of the biting lines that fly furiously here. Guitarist John Norum was also extraordinary. Still in his teens at the moment of recording, but already blessed with the kind of technique that many of his elders have still never managed to obtain, he surges out riff and solo alike alit with the kind of fire that blazes bright in every crystal note. His sound was unique, all his own, and it was quite the tragedy to hear him pushed to the side in favor of multi-layered keyboards for ‘The Final Countdown’, causing him to abandon the successful ship of Europe since his tastes were more along the lines of ‘Wings’ and the rest of the Swedish outfit was searching to be the Scandanavian equivalent of Journey or Foreigner. Instead of being chained and let loose only for the token solo as on ‘Countdown’, here he carries the songs on metallic rhythm riffs, imbued with the sense of all things metal, nothing restrained or held back. Once ‘Stormwind’ kicks off with its growling riffs, stomping bass, soaring vocals, and chorus that retains its catchiness through a steel laced veil, there’s no turning back. ‘Scream of Anger” whirls in next with such quaint lyrics as “I’ve been waiting here for ages, for the hangman to appear, soon the priest will read some pages, from the Bible for my fear’. The urgency is pounded through the skull at each turn, the vocals twisting from a rushed fright to tormented anguish, Norum’s guitar sizzling a path to that evil place all the way. ‘Open Your Heart’ was bastardized into a pop metal ditty on ‘Out of This World’, why the original was not good enough for them is beyond me, for in my mind it ranks as one of the best ballads ever laid down. Its opening is light and simplistic, relying on a sparse landscape of mostly acoustic and Tempest’s rich vocals to create a tearful atmosphere, right before kicking into rocking overdrive for the chorus, all instruments blazing for this fire and ice contrast and a mesmerizing solo that still has the power to blow one away. ‘Treated Bad Again’ is another notch in the metal belt, the axe again, something to listen for as it blends and weaves throughout the heavy confines of the song, sometimes melding with the raw ripped vocals and electrifying melody right before finding its own path. ‘Aphasia’ is an instrumental that happily sits alongside Yngwie’s ‘Black Star’ and a few of Ritchie Blackmore’s brief but heartfelt pieces as one of the best of its genre ever. Concise, precise, and showing more concern for being an actual song than just an excuse for over the top showboating, ‘Aphasia’ is very tasteful with an unexpected and surprise explosive ending. And the rest of the album continues the metal magic, from the hauntingly melodic ‘Wings Of Tomorrow’ with its powerful message, pompous and elegantly futuristic, to the aggressive strains of ‘Wasted Time’, to the gentle, delicate as a dove’s wing ballad ‘Dreamer’, which shapes a story that pulls at the heart strings, to the fun rockin’ closer of ‘Dance The Night Away’, that roars with 80s excess in a loose, jamming form – every track is wonderful in its own right. ‘Wings Of Tomorrow’ has proven that truly excellent music never sounds dated or loses its initial charms and it was this album that should have put them on the map and this sound that should have been mined for later releases. Even Tempest himself ranks ‘Wings’ as his favorite Europe album. There’s a reason for that, for they had found perfection, only the rest of the world had failed to realize it.

Track listing:
1. Stormwind
2. Scream Of Anger
3. Open Your Heart
4. Treated Bad Again
5. Aphasia
6. Wings Of Tomorrow
7. Wasted Time
8. Lyin Eyes
9. Dreamer
10. Dance The Night Away