Prisoners in Paradise

Prisoners in Paradise is a work on which EUROPE, while keeping the outline of large-scale arena rock, added a calmer melancholy and refinement. Joey Tempest’s singing moves between strength and delicacy, and Kee Marcello’s guitar colors the songs with hook-laden phrases. Amid the change of the era, it is also a record on which the band reached a turning point. As shown in the title track and “I'll Cry for You,” the melody is flashy yet somehow wistful. Songs like “All or Nothing,” “Halfway to Heaven” and “Seventh Sign” breathe the band’s refined expressiveness too. After this record, on which the band deepened the same idiom into a more grown-up coloring following their 1980s success, the band entered a long hiatus. It is the close of an era, brimming with mature appeal.