Optimus is a solo album by Europe guitarist John Norum. The first thing I noticed about this release was the fact that the vocals generally just didn’t seem to fit the music. It almost felt that when the album was finished someone came up with the idea of adding vocals. You can imagine the little shock I got when I read that it was actually Norum I heard singing! In the bio I read that in the past Norum worked with external vocalists, but felt that nobody can sing his own lyrics with the same emotion like he does. After deciding on adding vocals to the music, this was just another bad decision. The fact that the title track Optimus and the final track Solitude, both instrumental tracks, are without doubt the best tracks on the album actually says it all.

Trying as hard as I can, to ignore the vocals, I found out that there definitely is some good music on this album. The raw, unpolished sound of the guitars is very appealing and there are some rather original compositions on Optimus. The track “One More Time” is a fine example, very catchy rhythms without sounding popular or commercial. The use of keyboards in this track is simply ingenious. Optimus is a missed opportunity. Had it been an instrumental album it would have scored at least an eight, probably a nine out of ten points. The addition of vocals is an unforgivable mistake, costing two points. Still, Optimus is worth buying, the instrumental tracks alone are worth your $15.