Europe : When the madness comes there’s no final countdown !

2 days ago
3 min read

Europe, a name that evokes the very first hard rock bands of the 1980s… Ah, Joey Tempest with his hair blowing in the wind ; he made girls dream and turned heads. One might have reasonably assumed that their success, like that of so many others at the time, would be short-lived. Hits came one after another from one band to the next, but they usually lasted only for a single or two, an album at most, especially when they became popular! But that was without counting on their vital passion for music.

When a band is as much about music as it is about making music, it never lets up, and Europe has certainly proven that over the years. You might point out that there was a huge hiatus from 1991 to 2004 and that their comeback with the album Start From The Dark -which, to make matters worse, wasn’t very well received by critics- went largely unnoticed.

Yes… but, even so, Europe boasts no fewer than 11 albums, a 43-year career, venues that are always packed whenever they’re booked, a loyal fanbase spanning several generations, and -having had the pleasure of seeing them at Heavy Weekend in 2025- an incredible, unfailing energy and a technical prowess that has only gotten better with time.

Europe is a band that knows how to reinvent itself, surprise us, and offer us more depth and the unexpected with every new release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PVLyBYNFj4

Here at Earama, we immediately perk up when we see that Europe has just released a single announcing their new album named Come This Madness, set for release on September 25, 2026, and already available for pe-orders here. One On One, the first track, is a gem. It’s a delicate and seamless blend of the band’s signature old-school hard rock sound and extremely contemporary tones. You can sense a new turning point, a fresh direction, even in the music video’s artistic direction, for which they enlisted Peter Stormare to portray this tortured, exposed character (a role that obviously fits him like a glove), himself a huge rock fan. And it’s a success: we’re transported, just as mesmerized by the video as by the song. What a first single!

We can’t wait to hear more, which means the gamble has paid off! At the same time, certain choices make all the difference, and this album is produced by Tom Dalgety (Ghost, Rammstein, and the Pixies), whom Joey Tempest outright considers the band’s sixth member on this album, given how deeply this renowned artist has invested himself with them, both creatively and musically.

We’re really looking forward, as I was saying, to hearing the whole album, but also to seeing the band live, which is being planned to coincide with the album’s release, with a major promotional tour and several festivals, as well as a parallel tour, The Final Countdown 40th Anniversary Tour, to celebrate the song’s 40th anniversary…

(They got it, Jenny… Yeah, but I’d rather clarify anyway… Whatever you say… Well, I’m the one writing this, right? So I decide!) Ahem, the 40th-anniversary tour, then, which will stop in Paris at the Olympia on October 6, 2026. Note that this date has been sold out for a long time, proving that Europe is still as successful as it was in its early days.