Customer Reviews

Secret Society

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD shreds! Europe has finally put it all together and made their first complete album that is good from start to finish since "Final Countdown." The guitar solos are great and the vocals are steady but less stellar than "Final Countdown." What makes this album is the production. I also thought the production was pretty good on "Start From the Dark," but none of those songs had hooks. These new songs do have the hooks, and better lyrics than any other album in this genre to come out all year. After years of having Nickleback and Godsmack jammed into my face, this is a breath of fresh air. People would be wise to revive this genre of rock music, because there is more going on in this world that teen angst and breaking up with a girlfriend. Take the modern alt.rock/emo/screamo bands and ship them to Siberia, and bring Europe back full force in the United States!

The first song Secret Society is kinda of weak but Always the Pretenders and Getaway Plan get this album rolling. The best thing about this cd is the guitar work by John Norum, he does does great solos which help the weaker songs. Let the Children play and Devil Sings the Blues have great arrangements. Mic Michali's keyboards just like Start In the Dark should have been higher in the mix. My only negative comments is that Joey Tempest vocals are not as strongs as they could be and he's singing in a lower key and some of the songs have a distorted vocal effect like he's singing through a bullhorn which alot of alternative bands do which I hate. Europe are also downtuning which makes for a heavier sound but I like the feel of the standard tuning like their old songs had.

Short and to the point here... I haven't listened to Europe since I bought Appetite For Destruction in 1987 or 1988. Guns N Roses changed my views and musical taste forever. Well, for some reason I decided to pick this disc up and man am I glad I did.. Great job guys! My interest in Europe has been woken from the dead...

As a huge Europe fan, it truly pains me to write this. They are an extremely talented band with unlimited potential who seemed to have phoned this one in. First, Joey Tempest has a vocal range that can be challenged by very few. That being said, I can sing almost every note of this album and not be off key. I can't sing, folks. I should never be able to keep up with Tempest. He shows virtually no range at all. That may be in fact due to the lackluster songwriting, which is my second gripe. Now, I didn't love Start From The Dark either, but it had some very memorable songs and equally memorable hooks. There's very few stand out moments on this cd at all. And I'm just not used to that from this band. I know it's not the eighties anymore, and it's probably more fashionable to be less melodic these days, but, come on, that's why I love this band. I hope this cd grows on me in time and I can amend this review. Until then, I only hope the band reads this and realizes that while moving forward may be important, don't lose sight of how you got there in the first place. Don't change because the times do. It wasn't broke to begin with.

I will admit, I wasn't sure how I felt about this cd upon my first listen. I instantly liked Start From the Dark, which was a definite departure from older material. This album seems much more adventurous, different sonic textures, different moods. With every spin, I liked it more, each song was ditinct and memorable. I have grown to love it. The songs are memorable, each with a different flavor, but a different sort of hook. As much as I loved Start From the Dark, this album seems more varied than their previous album. My personal favorite was the last track, "The Devil Sings the Blues," which highlights John Norum's fretwork with its uptempo outro, very reminiscent of his solos on Don Dokken's solo album, Up From the Ashes. "Always the Pretender" is most likely the first single, and is most representative of Europe's new sound, with a catchy chorus and fast upbeat verse. Europe experiments with different vocal effects (I think Joey's using a megaphone!) as well as a youth choir (in "Let the Children Play," an excellent mid-tempo track), making for an interesting listening experience. I like the keyboard work by Mic Michaeli on "Secret Society", adding cool musical textures while being somewhat understated (as opposed to The Final Countdown), as well as the beautiful piano on "Mother's Son." This Europe, while being fun and adventurous, shows the wisdom of their years, and gives their more mature fanbase more food for thought and ear.

I must agree with the previous reviewer also. I was stunned at the last album being so much darker and heavier than the 80's and 90's Europe, pleasantly stunned, that is. This album is actually another step in the heavy direction while at the same time absolutely holding to the great Europe melodies and hooks. Unlike the last album which clearly had a few filler songs, this one is stocked beginning to end with strong songs. Even the weaker tracks still have something to pull you in and make you interested. Great CD in general. Highlights: Always the Pretenders, Let the Children Play and Forever Traveling. Start From the Dark was a great new beginning and this was a great next step.

I agree, "Start from the Dark" sounds like just a warm-up compared to "Secret Society". This fantastic album contains all the qualities I want to hear from Europe: Joey Tempest's distinct vocals, charming melodies, sweet guitar solos and heavy riffs, great choruses, upbeat and constant tempos (which you can almost dance to, like many of the songs on "Wings of tomorrow") and lots of big hooks! This album will get you instantly hooked. It's addictive. I play it almost everyday. I've been a fan for 20 years and as much as I love the classic Europe material, "Secret Society" is like a quantum leap above it. Even longtime skeptics cannot deny what a great record this is (and I've read many such positive reviews). I would love to hear this ENTIRE album performed live, and that's the best compliment I can give "Secret Society".

Just so you know where I'm coming from, I've been a Europe fan since I first heard "The Final Countdown" on the radio in 1986. My favorite Europe releases are Wings of Tomorrow and Prisoners in Paradise. As much as I enjoyed early metal Europe and polished AOR Europe, I thought the modern melodic rock sound they had going for them on their comeback album Start From the Dark really suited the older, more mature band. I was hoping to hear more of that on their 2006 follow-up Secret Society.

Unfortunately, Secret Society doesn't sound like any previous Europe sound. In fact, it doesn't sound much like Europe at all. With its fuzzy guitar sound, distorted vocals and overly serious themes, it sounds like one of those lousy late `90s Dokken albums when the band was trying to sound alternative. It's a sound that just doesn't suit a band of Europe's talents and melodic tendencies. There are a couple of gems here. "Always the Pretenders" and "Wish I Could Believe" are both terrific modern (but still melodic) rock songs that carry forward the Start from the Dark sound. The rest of the album is pretty forgettable though.

I've given Secret Society several chances to change my mind, but it just ain't happening. There's something about it that just doesn't seem like Europe to me. I still love the band, and will give Last Look at Eden (incl. 2 bonus tracks) a shot, but I hope this doesn't end up being a long term style change.

I have read some positive as well as negative reviews on this album. So when I ordered it, I didn't quite know what to expect. Since some said that Europe now sounded like Nickleback and related bands. However, as a serious lover of music and one who prides myself on having a great melodic rock and metal cd collection.. this is what I have to honestly say about secret society: This album is not Nickleback or Godsmack. It is not drab modern rock that has no melody.. It is actually a great album!!! You won't find the poppy, rock Europe of the 1980's here.. So those who like to box a band into their sound will probably have fits over it. But those who like to give a band breathing room to grow and evolve will hear the greatness of this album. The melodies are strong and catchy.. the guitar work has some really nice moments and goes beyond the crunchy alternative rock sound. The keyboards aren't giant like the old days of Europe.. but they are there. The vocals are not weak or bland as some reviews claim. The album flows and has a nice sound and great style.. Upon first listen.. I just kind of sat there with this "wow" kind of feeling by the end of the disc.. I was not disappointed in the least, nor did I think this album stunk. Bypass the naysayers and give this disc a spin.. I really don't think you will dislike what you hear. And that comes from a die hard music critic who is not easily impressed.

My first visit to this album was via the worst set of headphones I've ever owned. Luckily the next day I cranked it up on my home stereo. And you know what? It's a pretty good listen. Solid hard rock songs with more body to them than some Europe albums and this album sees a better combination of John Norums riffs and the vocals which was a sticking point for me with their last disc Start From the Dark.

The fuller instrumentation gives this disc more of a band feel and the very clean - but not too clean - knob job by the band itself lends further credence to this being a working band, if not a band for every working man.

Personal gems from this disc would have to be The Getaway Plan (check Norums solo) and the more fragile Human After All. But really this is a very consistent song based album with the sum of it's parts adding up nicely. And the package is added to by the cover art (a bit creepy if you ask me) and the booklet illustrations and lyrics to the whole deal.

Europe fans can buy this with confidence as it's a better written batch of tunes than Start From The Dark. In fact any generic hard tock and/or AOR fan should pick this up as should any 80's fan who wants to see what could of been achieved had more time been spent on hard work crafting albums and less time attending stylists apppointments. Hey, perhaps we could of avoided the grunge years....