WALK THE EARTH - EUROPE's 11th album revealed!

It's a real grower, took me 4 or 5 listens to it. Now I think this is some of the best stuff they have ever done.

I've given it several full listens and still can't get into it. I really like WTE as a track though but the rest is all sounding far too hard like Deep Purple or Thin Lizzy for my liking. There would be no way they could have got away with releasing something sounding as close to those artists like this in the past. This one for me ranks below BoB which until this one was my least listened/fav album. Joey has one of the best straight vocal deliveries in the business yet he likes to use this sometimes OTT vibrato which just ruins it for my ears. Sonically, if you A/B this album and Secret Society, you can see how far they have opened up the frequencies, much more expansive so production values are certainly high with WTE.

I am for 31 years now, a big fan of Europe. I love the period before and after the break, so not hanging on to just the eighties. But i must admit, i was a little disapointed with the new album in first. It grew on me, but still it isn't Europe as strong as it good be or perhaps, lots of times it isn't Europe at all. It's great they have the guts to reinvent themselfves, but that musn't be the purpose in itself. There are just nog enough strong melodies and that is, one of the things what made Europe unique. You could hear it in as well the singing, as in playing guitar. Melodic and balanced, but here it's kind of messy to me. The only Europe sounding song is the title track. Yes, they are doing there thing and rocking the way the want, but with that, for me they are now sounding like just a good, but also ordinairy rockband. Nothing special.

The title track Walk The Earth set some fairly high expectations for me as I rather liked it, but I am generally disappointed by the rest of the album.

My favorites:

Walk the Earth
The Siege
Election Day
Turn to Dust (up until the rather sudden cutoff, followed by elevator music, at 6:07)

I don't very much like the rest of the songs at all, even after giving them several tries apiece.

I have enjoyed many of Europe's albums since their reunion: Start From The Dark, Last Look At Eden, War Of Kings. Yet Walk The Earth is only marginally better overall, in my view, than Secret Society and Bag of Bones.