Tension on the Train

Europe By Night. It's 4 AM in the city. 2017. Or is it 1987? It's 2024. Who really knows these days? Ski masked graffiti writers calmly throw their tags up in the streets, railcars and train station platforms of Europe's capital cities. Berlin. Paris. Rome. Stockholm. Trouble lurks around every corner and dark clouds follow you overhead. The ominous sensations are impossible to shake.

People silhouetted by the shade of the night wander the streets. Some are in love, holding hands. Others, hopelessly lost in the sea of reality (which frequency is it, anyhow?) in search of something or someone. Most are consumed by their own thoughts, trapped in their headphone world, blocking out all external sound stimuli, enraptured by frequently un-pocketed, brightly lit, ever lengthening smart-phones and phablets.

Nobody makes eye contact, especially at this hour. A foreboding unknown threat is palpable, and everyone is on edge. You should really get back home soon. It's too late to be out all alone. Across Europe, refugees shuttle themselves across borders, in attempt to secure peace and safety from their previous nightmare realities. In these grim times, hope is the only way out. Through this all, Metro Riders shines a light in the dark of night, guiding the way.

Europe By Night is the gripping and intoxicating debut album by Stockholm, Sweden based Metro Riders (real name Henrik Stelzer) and the first release on newly minted contemporary global imprint Possible Motive. Employing outdated software and now obsolete analogue recording equipment, Metro Riders conjures a suspenseful and gloomy, true to the era re-imagining of lost sounds. A real labor of love, Europe By Night encompasses a very niche palette, everything from the prophetic visions of John Carpenter, to the warbled world of Troma films, to Italian horror flicks, Euro-crime and the cybernetic sewers of The Skaters.