E-Type - EurotopiaUniversal Music (2007)
The Eurodance ambassador E-Type is here again, with a new album titled "Eurotopia". Nana Hedin is not a part of the crew anymore, but Martin Erikson has found a perfect replacement for her, as Sanne Karlsson handles her vocals so well that she could already be called the number one female Eurodance singer.
Max Martin, the world-famous Pop producer from Sweden, is now involved in the production of only two songs, the single releases "True Believer" and "Eurofighter". Even though both songs could have benefitted from a more intense chorus, Sanna Karlsson still shines when it comes to vocals, which makes the songs very likable. Their soundscapes are also filled with several catchy moments.
Ever since its track list was released, "Eurotopia" seemed like a fairly short album, in terms of Pop music at least, as it only included nine songs. The same feeling of rushed production can be felt on the released album as a whole, even though it has been more than three years since the previous E-Type album. In addition to the singles, the only decent songs on the album are “the poor man’s Ecuador” "The Tide" and the summer-like "Ding Ding Song", which features a yet another splendid vocalist Anna Nordell. "To The Lions" manages to be at least moderately appealing with its chorus and a fairly catchy soundscape, but it was clearly a mistake to save E-Type’s vocals until the last moments of the song.
Even though "Last Day Alive" did sound surprisingly good when I heard it on the radio at the gym today, it’s still an uninspiring and cliché-ridden example of the most basic E-Type-style songwriting. "Like A Child", on the other hand, does posses occasional drive and well-performed rapping by E-Type, but as a whole this song completely wastes its energy without ever realizing its full potential.
Many listeners probably remember "Me No Want Miseria", the debut song of E-Type which became quite a classic, even though it sounds nothing like the songs he released afterwards. As in that early release, E-Type performs no vocals on "Make Us High" and "Inside". "Make Us High" is a run-of-the-mill Dance-Pop track and the same goes to "Inside" with its trendy but uninspiring use of bass sounds. Instead of letting Sanne Karlsson to handle the vocals, some unknown singer makes the song sound nothing like E-Type and thus feels more like a filler track.
It will be interesting to see how the fans will react to the fact that this album has only six tracks that actually sound like E-Type... Four good songs are hardly enough to justify calling this one a classic…
Track Listing
01 True Believer 3:41
02 The Tide 3:57
03 Eurofighter 3:47
04 Make Us High 4:09
05 Like A Child 4:17
06 Last Day Alive 4:02
07 To The Lions 3:42
08 Ding Ding Song 3:34
09 Inside 4:52
Text: Antti Niemelä
