Swedish rock legends Europe returns with their first album in nine years, Come This Madness, September 25 via Silver Lining Music. The veteran act’s musical diversity remains intact, though its penchant for hard driving rock remains at the fore.
Lyrically, the group has cast its eyes to the global picture at the moment via “The Cult of Ignorance,” the title track, and “Scandinavian Eyes.” The latter stands as perhaps one of Europe’s most ambitious compositions to do date and is epic in both scope and execution.
The outfit also acknowledges its deep connections to the Swedish music scene and their own history as well. They tracked the LP at RMV Studio in Stockholm, owned by the father and son team of Benny Andersson and Ludvig Andersson. The elder Andersson was a member of ABBA, who was once one owner of the legendary Polar Studios, where Europe recorded their sophomore album, Wings of Tomorrow.
The record was produced by Tom Dalgety (Pixies, The Cult) and features guest appearances by Ghost’s Tobias Forge and Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt while the LP was mixed by the legendary Mike Fraser (AC/DC, Van Halen, Metallica, The Cult, Loverboy).
The band will soon celebrate 40 years of its breakthrough album, The Final Countdown, kicking off a tour in late September that will last until the end of November. (At the time of this writing there are no North American dates on the books.)
Haugland recently discussed the material heard on Come This Madness, how the song “The Final Countdown” has become a cultural phenomenon that seems to have reached even the most remote corners of the world, and the group’s recent cover of Kansas’ “Carry On Wayward Son” with Jay Buchanan of the American group Rival Sons on Swedish television.
Host/Producer: Jedd Beaudoin
Theme music: Torin Andersen
