Europe
Bag Of Bones
Produced by Kevin Shirley
earMUSIC
UK Release date: April 30, 2012 CD | MP3
U.S. Release date: May 8, 2012 CD (Import)

Love it or loathe it, the fact is Swedish rock band Europe will always be the band responsible for “The Final Countdown.” Twenty-six years on from making one of the most iconic rock songs of all time, new album Bag Of Bones demonstrates a significantly different band.

The current line-up of singer Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum, bassist John Leven, drummer Ian Haugland, and keyboard player Mic Michaeli have been together since 2003 (but also played together for most of the ’80s) and have worked hard to make the transition from hard rock hair metal to a hard rock blues band. Songs like “Riches To Rags” with its superb guitar solo – a sonic sugar-rush as the tempo kicks up a level and Norum shreds – and lead single “Not Supposed To Sing The Blues” are the perfect example of Europe’s hard rock blues.

Swedish rock legends Europe will release their 9th studio album, Bag Of Bones, next month in the UK. Due to hit on April 30, 2012 (April 27 for the rest of Europe), the hard rock band most famous for 1986 hit “The Final Countdown” will release its newest album since 2009’s Last Look At Eden.

Featuring 11 new tracks, Bag Of Bones is produced by the man very much in demand: Kevin Shirley who has worked with everyone from Journey to Aerosmith to Rocket From The Crypt. Recently he brought supergroup Black Country Communion (featuring Glenn Hughes) to life.

The band’s new single, “Not Supposed To Sing The Blues,” is available now to download and you can watch the video at their official site official site. It tells the story of a kid discovering rock music in the ’70s. A heavily bluesy hard rock tune featuring superb guitar work by long-time guitarist John Norum and Joey Tempest’s unmistakeable vocals.

With 2011 coming to a close, a bunch of us here at Geeks of Doom, along with some Friends of Doom, decided to take a look back at some of our favorite albums that celebrated their 25th anniversary this year.

The year 1986 was a fantastic one for music, with pivotal albums from metal bands like Metallica and Slayer and rap artists like The Beastie Boys and Run-DMC. There was also great music topping the charts from artists like Genesis, Janet Jackson, and Van Halen. Oh and let’s not forget the soundtracks!

Check out our picks below for Our Favorite Albums Of 1986.

Here at Geeks Of Doom, we’re celebrating the 25th anniversary of some of the great music that was released in 1986. It was a big year for music, notably the genre of metal, with major groundbreaking releases coming out from Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and much more.

Over the next few weeks, you’ll be seeing some 1986 music flashback-related posts popping up here at Geeks of Doom, and to help keep the theme going, we decided to join forces with the Social Blend and get some tunes crankin’ in the lead up to some of these upcoming posts.

Social Blend mainly focuses on news and stories posted at Mixx.com, but every couple of months we do a special music edition of the show called CRANIUMELODY. Essentially we try and select some obscure and underrated songs for people to check out, and other times we make selections based on a topic or theme for the show.