Having released some of the biggest anthems that shaped rock music in the 1980’s, it would have been easy for Europe to rest upon their laurels and live off past glories. Whilst they’ve never turned their backs on their history (and why would they?), the band’s compass has been orientated towards the future. It’s an approach that has allowed Europe to explore new musical territory while simultaneously pleasing their core fanbase. Album number twelve finds the band doing just that, serving up eleven tracks that examine some of life’s biggest questions whilst wrapping them up in gloriously addictive melodies.

To say that Come The Madness has been a long time in gestation would be something of an understatement. Nine long years since Europe’s last long player (2017’s Walk The Earth) means that their latest comes heavily laden with a weight of expectation. Of course, the band have been far from idle in the intervening years, undertaking several tours that have kept their engine ticking over nicely, and means that opening track ‘One On One’ finds them firmly in the groove. Like a welterweight boxer, Europe are fleet of foot and potent of punch, delivering a strong opener that will reverberate throughout the whole album. This is a hard rock record (with the emphasis on hard), Europe sounding more pugnacious than ever before; there’s a confidence radiating from tracks such as ‘The Cult Of Ignorance’ that only comes from a band who know they’re onto a good thing. That the band have had the same line-up since their reformation in 2003 is obviously a good thing and Come The Madness sounds like a well balanced album; there’s no rampant ego to skewer things, rather the songs flow with an easy equilibrium that finds ballads such as ‘This Time Of Year’ nestling next to rockers like ‘In A Different World’ quite effortlessly.

In Come The Madness Europe have undoubtedly produced an album that is rooted in the present, and that’s thanks in no small part to Tom Dalgey (producer) and Mike Frazer (mixing) who’ve conspired to give the album a fresh and crisp sound. However, the band haven’t torn up their roots and you can hear a lot of Rainbow in ‘Scandinavian Eyes’ and Deep Purple in ‘The Devil’s Back’, but mostly Come The Madness sounds like no one but Europe, and that’s got to be a good thing. It is with the high octane ‘Nothing Can Follow This’ that the album comes to a conclusion and suggests Europe’s future will be as bright as their past.

• Come The Madness is released via Silver Lining Music on 25th September 2026.
• Europe Official Website

Track List:

1. One on One
2. The Cult of Ignorance
3. Come This Madness
4. This Time of Year
5. In a Different World
6. Scandinavian Eyes
7. Takin’ It Back
8. In the Absence of Grace
9. The Angels Must Have Flown
10. The Devil’s Back
11. Nothing Can Follow This