This is the debut opus from Europe founder John Norum - and what a belter it is from the Swedish guitarist. Sprinkled with keyboards, yet always driving hard, this is very much melody metal at its best, with Norum shining - as expected with the guitars, and also, surprisingly, with the vocals too on the opening 'Let Me Love You' and the smouldering 'Love Is Meant To Last Forever,' although Goran Edman handles throat duties on three tracks. Admittedly, 'Love Is...' does have the strains of Europe's 'The Final Countdown' to the point of plagiarism but who cares, it's still effective hard rock that comes into its own on the swooning 'Too Many Hearts' and the pompous strut of 'Back on the Streets' originally recorded by Vinnie Vincent's Invasion. 'Total Control,' like a lot of this stuff back then has a fresh feel to it and despite not being original or ground-breaking in the slightest it's still a good hard rock platter spattered pop melodies.
7/10
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