Europe – Come This Madness (Album Review)
Updated: Oct 4
Release date: 25 September 2026
Record label: Silver Lining Music
The Riff Doctor’s Score: (8/10)
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Diagnosis
Nine years after their last studio album, Europe return with one of the strongest records of their second life. Come This Madness is heavy, elegant and superbly controlled: a modern hard-rock album made by musicians who know exactly when to strike, when to pull back and when to let a song breathe. Joey Tempest has rarely sounded more commanding, while John Norum, Mic Michaeli, John Levén and Ian Haugland each leave a distinct mark on a record that rewards repeated listening. Europe are hard-rock royalty, but this is no ceremonial appearance. They still have something meaningful to add to the kingdom.
Standout tracks: ‘Come This Madness’, ‘Scandinavian Eyes’, ‘One on One’, ‘The Devil's Back’
Deep cuts: 'Takin' It Back’, ‘Nothing Can Follow This’
The Full Review
Nine years is a long time between studio albums. It is long enough for expectations to grow, musical fashions to change several times and lesser bands to begin treating their own catalogue like a museum exhibit. Europe, thankfully, have never shown much interest in standing behind glass.
Their previous album, Walk the Earth, arrived in 2017. Since then, the Swedish veterans have remained a formidable live band, but Come This Madness still carries the weight of a genuine return. It also arrives in the year of The Final Countdown's 40th anniversary, which makes the temptation to trade exclusively on nostalgia rather obvious. Instead, Europe deliver a record firmly rooted in the present while retaining the class, melody and musicianship upon which their name was built.
Recorded at Stockholm's RMV Studio, produced by Tom Dalgety and mixed by Mike Fraser, the album sounds enormous without becoming needlessly inflated. The production gives every musician space. Keyboards are allowed to shape the atmosphere, bass lines have genuine character, the drums carry real weight and John Norum's guitar never needs to dominate every available second to make its presence felt. The album also features Tobias Forge of Ghost and Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt on backing vocals, although their contributions are woven discreetly into the wider arrangements.
‘One on One’ establishes that immediately. Its cinematic opening gives way to John Levén's distorted bass, a striking idea that feels almost like a new turn on the attack of ‘Scream of Anger’, only transferred from guitar to the lower end. Once the full band arrives, the song becomes a display of collective mastery rather than individual exhibition. It is powerful, melodic and carefully constructed, with the kind of chorus Europe can still make sound effortless.
‘The Cult of Ignorance’ brings the modern Europe into especially sharp focus. Joey Tempest sings much of it in the deeper register that has become increasingly important to his voice, sounding composed and authoritative rather than chasing his younger self. When the chorus arrives, however, there is an unmistakable taste of the Europe everybody knows. It will understandably become a favourite among long-time fans, even if the acoustic guitar sitting beneath the chorus feels unnecessary and keeps the song just outside the album's very best tier.
The title track restores the full force of the opening song. ‘Come This Madness’ is built around a heavy, solid riff, but its greatest strength lies in the changes of pace and atmosphere surrounding it. This is where decades of experience become audible. Europe understand the classic hard-rock language inherited from bands such as Deep Purple, yet they do more than reproduce its vocabulary. They know how to manipulate dynamics, allowing each instrument to shine without keeping everything at full volume throughout. The result is one of the album's finest songs: muscular when required, spacious when it matters and never remotely clumsy.
Every Europe album needs a ballad, of course. There may be bylaws somewhere in Stockholm. ‘This Time of Year’ fills that role with warmth and a touch of seasonal melancholy. It appears to glance towards Christmas, and it is undeniably beautiful, but this is no the new ‘Carrie’. What it lacks is the irresistible chorus that an entire venue can claim as its own. It remains a good ballad, just not the song most likely to make thousands of phone lights rise at once.
‘In a Different World’ sits comfortably in the middle of the record. Its weight and drive recall the terrain of War of Kings, and it helps preserve the album's momentum without becoming one of its defining moments. On a lesser record it might stand taller. Here, the competition is unusually fierce.
Scandinavian Class
That becomes obvious with ‘Scandinavian Eyes’. Before its release, the title alone suggested it might belong to the album's grand ballad. Europe clearly had other plans. An orchestral wind passage opens the door before a fast, twisting riff charges through it, carrying the unmistakable spirit of Ritchie Blackmore without becoming imitation. Tempest is outstanding, Norum plays with ridiculous class and Mic Michaeli's keyboards add both scale and colour. The central riff is the sort that makes people want to learn guitar, usually five minutes before remembering that John Norum is exceptionally good at it. This is hard rock with elegance to spare and, alongside the title track, the album's highest point.
‘Takin' It Back’ is less immediate but may prove to have the longest life. It does not necessarily reveal itself on the first listen; given time, its detail and construction begin to settle into place. Norum delivers what may be his best solo on the album, combining speed and aggression without sacrificing melody. That balance defines his playing throughout Come This Madness. He has the classical hard-rock character that many enormous bands of the 1980s would have happily stolen, but his solos serve the songs rather than interrupt them.
The brief ‘In the Absence of Grace’ should be understood as an atmospheric bridge rather than judged against the full songs surrounding it. Its most memorable feature is Tempest's low vocal, which again underlines how expressive his mature voice has become. Age has not diminished his instrument; it has given him different colours to use.
‘The Angels Must Have Flown’ is the least distinctive song here. It is not bad — Come This Madness does not contain a bad song — but it struggles to leave the same impression as the material around it. ‘The Devil's Back’, by contrast, immediately supplies the album's heaviest moment. Its slow, forceful groove and Deep Purple flavour allow the band to sound genuinely imposing, while Norum is given more room to cut loose.
Closing track ‘Nothing Can Follow This’ is another song best enjoyed rather than hurriedly decoded. Its shifts in rhythm and atmosphere bring the record's different strengths together, moving between reflection, weight and melody without losing its direction. Like ‘Takin' It Back’, it grows richer with familiarity and ensures the album ends with ambition rather than a polite retreat.
Across all eleven tracks, Tempest may be the revelation. His lower delivery carries remarkable control and authority, yet he can still open the voice when a chorus calls for the Europe of old. Michaeli is equally important, his keyboards frequently determining the scale and mood rather than merely decorating the guitars. Levén and Haugland provide far more than a functional rhythm section, while Norum remains one of hard rock's most distinctive and tasteful guitarists.
Come This Madness is better than Europe's recent predecessors and fully worthy of a nine-year wait. It respects the band's history without being trapped inside it, sounding contemporary without making the embarrassing mistake of chasing youth. Most importantly, it feels like the work of five musicians still listening to one another.
Jose Crespo for The Riff Collective
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