War of Kings (album)

This article is about the Europe album. For other uses, see War of Kings (disambiguation).
War of Kings
Studio album by Europe
Released March 2, 2015 (2015-03-02)
(see Release history)
Recorded October–November 2014
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal
Length 48:59
Label UDR Records
JVC (Japan)
Producer Dave Cobb
Europe chronology
Bag of Bones
(2012)		 War of Kings
(2015)
Singles from War of Kings
  1. "War of Kings"
    Released: February 4, 2015
  2. "Days of Rock 'N' Roll"
    Released: March 13, 2015

War of Kings is the tenth studio album by the Swedish rock band Europe. It was released on March 2, 2015 by UDR Records.[1]

Background

Europe band members contacted Dave Cobb in 2014. They met up in Stockholm and rented vintage recording gear from the band The Soundtrack of Our Lives. Joey Tempest recorded demos on his phone and those demos were in poor audio quality. At first Cobb didn't want hear any of the Joey's demos, but in the end he agreed to. Next day Cobb contacted the band and said that he is impressed by the songs and that he also have ideas how to fix those songs. He joined the band in the studio and they all work together on those songs. They changed the arrangements on 4 or 5 songs and also wrote bits and segments for others. Cobb was involved in writing and instance on songs "War of Kings" and "Praise You" and keyboard intro on "Second Day".[2]

Composition and lyrics

Song "War of Kings" originate from a riff made by John Leven. After that, Joey started to build song from that riff and Cobb was involved to write instance for that song. When the song was written there were no lyrics for it and Joey sang vocal melody over it, but then Tempest started to think about adventure novel The Long Ships (1941-1945) written by Frans G. Bengtsson which he read when he was a kid. He thought it would great idea to write lyrics about Viking's early begginnings and battles between Norwegians, Danish and Swedish. Tempest explained: "There were important battles early on, where self-proclaimed kings were fighting - elected kings. It was chaos in Scandinavia. I thought it was a fascinating background for a lyric, and the melodies and the riffs lend themselves to it. So that's how it started." [3]

"Hole In My Pocket" also originate from riff made by Leven, while "Second Day" and "California 405" are developed from Mic Michaeli's riffs. "California 405" is a song about hoping and dreaming. It was inspired by time band had spent in California in late eighties and early nineties and driving Interstate 405 highway. Tempest explained: "When I go to California now, everything has changed. The late 80s and beginning of the 90s, it was a completely different place as far as music and MTV, airplay and rock music on radio. But I still get a great feeling driving south. Things have changed but there is still hope. You can still feel free. Get in the rental car, put some great music on and drive south in California and feel that sense of freedom, it's still there!"[2] "Days of Rock 'N' Roll" originates from an idea and keyboard riff made by Tempest in 1988. It was called "Out of This World" and this keyboard riff had a fanfare pattern and the idea was to made a fanfare kind of song out of it. That riff never turned out to be a song, but the band named their album Out of This World (1988) by that riff. In 2014. band picked up this old riff and tryed it on a guitar and with different drum tempo and Tempest also wrote new lyrics which talk about rise, fall and rise of rock'n'roll. [2][4]

"Rainbow Bridge" was born out one of the jams between Tempest and Michaeli, where Tempest played drums and Michaeli played keyboards. After that, they took parts of the jam they've liked and wrote song from those parts. Tempest wrote fictional lyrics about bridge in Tokyo called Rainbow Bridge, which he saw from a skybar.[5] "Angels (With Broken Hearts)" originates from a riff made by John Norum. That song was finished later in the studio with a full band and Cobb. During the writing process, band found out that Jack Bruce passed away. Moved by his death, band and Cobb rewrote the lyrics and lyrics turned out to be about people passing away in out lives. "Light It Up" also originates from a riff made by Norum.[2][5] "Vasastan" is a instrumental written by Norum and Michaeli. It was named after Vasastan, district in Stockholm where PanGaia Studios is located.[5]

Album artwork and release

After they played with album title ideas, band decided to name the album "War of Kings" because is opening song on the album and everyone in the band considered it special. Band then decided to contact Paul Tippet, artist from London, after they have seen the album cover of the first Black Star Riders album that he designed. Band sent the song "War of Kings" with the lyrics to Paul and they have insisted that he doesn't use elements such as swords, fire or Vikings, but only cotemporary elements like presidents, kings, businessman's and that he can also use chess angle. Paul took the shot of the man in the suit and designed the whole album cover and band later only did small changes on it.[6]

Title track "War of Kings" was released as a first single. Song was premiered exclusively on Planet Rock radiostation on January 30th, 2015. at 8:10 a.m. and it was released for a digital download on February 4th, 2015. Music video for the single was directed by Patrick Ullaeus and it was premiered on February 9th, 2015.[7] Two of the songs: "Nothin' to Ya" and "Days of Rock 'N' Roll" were streamed on VH1 website until morning of Februry 27th, 2015. [8] Album was released in United Kingdom on March 2nd, in Japan on March 4th through JVC, Europe on March 6th and in United States on March 10th, 2015. Album was release in four different formats: CD digipack, CD jewelcase, Vinyl LP and in digital download format. All the versions of the album included 11 songs, except CD digipack and Japanese version which also have a bonus track Vasastan, which is an instrumental.[9][10] Limited edition boxset of the album was released on March 6th in Germany and EU countries, on March 9th in United Kingdom and EU and United States on April 28th, 2015. It contains War of Kings Deluxe Edition, extended 7 inch booklet, the "Making of" DVD "War of Kings - How we Did it", t-shirt, postcard and sticker.[7]"Days of Rock 'N' Roll" was released as a second single on March 13th, 2016. Music video was directed by Ullaeus and it is featuring the footage of the band performing in Manchester and Wolverhampton. Video was premiered on April 27th, 2015. On the same day, limited edition CD of the single was released through Europe's own Stereo Boutique Shop.[7]On December 4th in North America and in Australia on November 27th, 2015., band released Special Edition of the album which includes original "War of Kings" album and DVD/Blu-ray with performance of Europe on Wacken Open Air in 2015. The set was released in three different formats: 2-disc ecolbook with CD and DVD, 2-disc ecolbook with CD and Blu-ray and limited edition deluxe package with CD, DVD, Blu-ray and photobook. Also, audio-only edition of Wacken Open Air performance was released in digital format. Preorders for Special Edition of "War of Kings" album began on October 21st, 2015. Live video of "Nothin' to Ya" was also released on record label's Youtube channel.[11][10]

Track listing[12]

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "War of Kings"  Joey Tempest, John Levén, Dave Cobb 4:36
2. "Hole in My Pocket"  Tempest, Levén 3:42
3. "The Second Day"  Tempest, Mic Michaeli 5:23
4. "Praise You"  Tempest, Michaeli, Cobb 4:34
5. "Nothin' to Ya"  Tempest, John Norum, Michaeli, Levén, Ian Haugland 3:54
6. "California 405"  Tempest, Michaeli 4:31
7. "Days of Rock 'N' Roll"  Tempest 3:05
8. "Children of the Mind"  Tempest, Michaeli, Cobb 4:30
9. "Rainbow Bridge"  Tempest, Michaeli 3:16
10. "Angels (With Broken Hearts)"  Tempest, Michaeli, Norum, Levén, Haugland, Cobb 5:19
11. "Light It Up"  Tempest, Norum, Levén 6:10

War of Kings: Special Edition

Personnel

Europe
Production[1]

Charts

Chart (2015) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[13] 27
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[14] 58
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[15] 83
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[16] 35
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[17] 38
French Albums (SNEP)[18] 69
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] 23
Italian Albums (FIMI)[20] 41
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[21] 38
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[22] 41
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[23] 2
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[24] 6
UK Albums (OCC)[25] 50
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[26] 18
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[27] 44

Release history

Region Date
United Kingdom March 2, 2015[1]
Japan March 4, 2015[1]
Europe March 6, 2015[1]
United States March 10, 2015[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "EUROPE To Release 'War Of Kings' On UDR Records In March MelodicRock.com". melodicrock.com. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "antiMusic.com: The antiMusic Interview: Joey Tempest of Europe". antiMusic.com. Retrieved 2016-11-16.
  3. ↑ "Joey Tempest of Europe: Songwriter Interviews". songsfacts.com. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
  4. ↑ "Metal-Rules.com News, Interviews, Concert Reviews >> EUROPE - drummer Ian Haugland". metal-rules.com. Retrieved 2016-11-16.
  5. 1 2 3 "Lords of Metal ezine". Lords of Metal ezine. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
  6. ↑ "Exclisive Interview with Joey Tempest of Europe". overdrive.ie. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
  7. 1 2 3 "JOHN NORUM OFFICIAL WEBSITE". johnnorum.se. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
  8. ↑ "Europe Premiere 2 New Songs - VH1". vh1.com. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
  9. ↑ "Europe To Release "War Of Kings" Album In March - Blabbermouth.net". blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
  10. 1 2 "EUROPE To Release 'War Of Kings' Special Edition". melodicrock.com. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  11. ↑ "Europe Announces "War Of Kings" Special Edition, 2016 Usa Tour - Blabbermouth.net". blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  12. ↑ "EUROPETHEBAND.COM". europetheband.com. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  13. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Europe – War Of Kings" (in German). Hung Medien.
  14. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Europe – War Of Kings" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  15. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Europe – War Of Kings" (in French). Hung Medien.
  16. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Europe – War Of Kings" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  17. ↑ "Europe: War Of Kings" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  18. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Europe – War Of Kings". Hung Medien.
  19. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
  20. ↑ "Italiancharts.com – Europe – War Of Kings". Hung Medien.
  21. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Europe – War Of Kings". Hung Medien.
  22. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – Europe – War Of Kings". Hung Medien.
  23. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Europe – War Of Kings". Hung Medien.
  24. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Europe – War Of Kings". Hung Medien.
  25. ↑ "Europe | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart
  26. ↑ "Europe – Chart history" Billboard Top Rock Albums for Europe.
  27. ↑ "Europe – Chart history" Billboard Independent Albums for Europe.
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