EUROPE – Walk The Earth

Resurgent Europe kick off their eleventh album (their third in five years) with title cut “Walk The Earth”, a mournful, Deep Purple-washed track that sounds, lyrically and sonically, like it could be the sequel to the ubiquitous song that launched their careers into the stratosphere, propelling the album for which it was named to fifteen million record sales worldwide.

That earlier song has the protagonist fleeing the planet from an implied apocalyptic event; the new song has the protagonists back and walking the Earth “with our heads held high” and “like champions”. A bold and interesting counterpoint to the bands’ world dominating single as well as a bold lead cut, “Walk The Earth” has none of the fanfare or bombast as its predecessor, instead serving as a slow tempo showcase for Joey Tempest’s mournful, world-weary voice.

Follow up “The Siege” kicks into a higher gear, and again the Purple influence is pronounced and evident with plenty of keyboard atmospherics. On Walk The Earth, Europe strike a balance between the ballads and rockers, following sentimental “Pictures” with the harder hitting “Election Day” and then sliding back into a dark slow groove on “Wolves”. Tempest has some great moments on the record, time has given his once soaring voice some soulful edges that enhance the emotional content of the songs, and guitarist John Norum cuts loose on some of the more upbeat numbers like “GTO” and “Whenever You’re Ready”. Seven-minute mini-epic “Turn To Dust” closes the album, one of the strongest in the decades-spanning Europe catalogue.

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