''Last Look at Eden'' is the eighth studio album by the Swedish rock band

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. It was released on 9 September 2009 in Sweden by Universal and on 14 September 2009 in the UK by

Edel Music Edel is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Abraham Edel (1908–2007), North American philosopher and ethicist * Alfred William Edel (c. 1930–2005), American television news presenter * Apoula Ede ...

's international rock music label earMUSIC.

Album information

The band has described it as a modern retro rock album. "This time, we're taking some new directions with our songs, and we're exploring different styles," they stated, "There is a definite classic rock vibe on some of the tracks... a tip of the hat to groovin', funkin' 70s rock songs – but ones we have brought into the here and now." During an interview with the Chilean radio station Radio Universo, vocalist Joey Tempest said that "''Last Look at Eden'' is more a Europe album than ''

Secret Society A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ag ...

'' and ''

Start from the Dark ''Start from the Dark'' is the sixth studio album by the Swedish rock band Europe. It was released on 22 September 2004 by Sanctuary Records. It was the band's first release since reforming in 2003, the first original album of all-new material ...

''. ''Last Look at Eden'' is a real Europe album." Drummer

Ian Haugland Jan-Håkan "Ian" Haugland (born 13 August 1964) is a Norwegian-Swedish drummer in the Swedish rock band Europe. When he was eight months old, he and his family moved to the Stockholm suburb of Märsta, Sweden. He joined Europe in the summer of ...

said that ''Start from the Dark'' and ''Secret Society'' had led up to ''Last Look at Eden'', and Tempest agreed, saying, "We had to make those two albums in order to do this." "With the two first comeback albums 'Start from the Dark'' and ''Secret Society'' we were very focused on trying to modernise the sound," Tempest said in an interview with the British magazine ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

'', "This time we followed our hearts and soul. It's very classic-sounding and melodic. It's almost like we've gone full circle." Europe premiered one of the album tracks, "Mojito Girl", on the Chilean tour in April 2009. Two other tracks, " Last Look at Eden" and "Gonna Get Ready", were premiered on a concert in Norway in May. In May 2009 Europe went to

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

to work with director Patric Ullaeus on the music video for the first single, "Last Look at Eden", which was released on 8 June 2009. The video was premiered on Europe's MySpace page on 3 June. In August Europe went back to Gothenburg to work with Ullaeus on the video for the second single, " New Love in Town", which was released on 3 September 2009. The video was premiered on Europe's MySpace page on 5 September. The album debuted at number 1 on the Swedish album chart. The album was also certificated

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in Sweden.

Tour

The Last Look at Eden Tour started on 7 November 2009. Prior to this the band played at the

Bloodstock Open Air Bloodstock Open Air is a British heavy metal festival held annually at Catton Hall in Walton-on-Trent, Derbyshire, since 2005. Originally held indoors for one day with two stages, the festival started in 2001 at the Derby Assembly Rooms and ...

festival in August 2009.

Track listing

Critical reception

"You can always count on good ol' Europe to supply grandiose and bombastic rock of the highest order (did any song score higher on the "arena rock-o-meter" than "The Final Countdown" back in the '80s?)," argues Greg Prato of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

. "''Last Look at Eden'' sounds exactly as you would picture a Europe album to be in 2009 – for better of for worse," he concludes his 3/5 review. "A band who divide opinion between those who understand and those who still associate them with one novelty hit, Europe are streets ahead of most melodic rock competition, their latest album simply offering more confirmation," argues ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

''s Steve Beebee (3 out of 5 Ks).

Personnel

;Europe * Joey Tempest – lead and backing vocals *

John Norum John Terry Norum (born 23 February 1964) is a Norwegian-born Swedish guitarist and one of the founders of the rock band Europe. Concurrent to his role with Europe, he also maintains a career as a solo artist. Biography As an infant, Norum moved ...

– guitars *

John Levén John Gunnar Levén (born 25 October 1963) is a Swedish bassist in the rock band Europe. Levén and vocalist Joey Tempest are the only band members who have performed on all of Europe's studio albums. Career Levén was born in Stockholm. When ...

– bass *

Mic Michaeli Gunnar Mathias "Mic" Michaeli (born 11 November 1962) is a Swedish musician best known as the keyboardist for the rock band Europe. Like many of the other Europe members he grew up in Stockholm suburb Upplands Väsby. He joined the band for thei ...

– keyboards, backing vocals *

– drums ;Additional personnel * Titiyo – backing vocals on tracks 4, 7, 12 * Kleerup – backing vocals on tracks 4, 7, 8, 12 and backwards piano outro on track 4 * Andreas Carlsson – backing vocals on tracks 2, 3, 5 *Magnus Sjölander – percussion * Czech National Symphony Orchestra ;Production *Produced by Tobias Lindell and Europe *Mixed and engineered by Tobias Lindell *Mastered by

Vlado Meller Vlado Meller (born in 1947 in Humenné as ''Vladimír Meller'') is a Slovak audio mastering engineer, currently with Vlado Meller Mastering in Charleston, South Carolina. Meller works across many genres of music, with credits on rock, hip-hop, p ...

at Universal Mastering Studios, New York *Recorded and mixed at Bohus Sound Studios, Gothenburg *Additional production by Joey Tempest and Mic Michaeli *Additional recordings at Playyard Studios, Stockholm by Per Stappe and Ronny Bernström; Studio 13, Stockholm by Marcus Englof ;Cover art *Art direction and design by Dimitrios Dimitriadis at Nightshade Design Collective *Band photos by Fredrik Etoall at Etoall Production

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control Europe (band) albums 2009 albums Albums produced by Tobias Lindell