Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Eclipse
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2015
Length: 42:21
Rating: 4/5
Swedish melodic rock revivalists Eclipse are back with their third studio album. They crank these out fast. A bit too fast, even. But the energy is clearly right and the inspiration is off the charts. The band’s main driving engine Erik Mårtensson (the famous »E« in W.E.T.) is the lead songwriter, composer, producer, guitarist (let’s just call him a multi-instrumentalist) and of course the vocalist, and he’s obviously bursting with creative drive. In every one of those roles, his talent remains worthy of total admiration.
The production style is definitely still razor-sharp for melodic hard rock. The riffs are venomously cranked and possessed, I’d even say metalized. Compared to its predecessor »Bleed And Scream«, though, the material is a bit calmer, so the album leaves a slightly different impression. It feels a little softer and even a touch darker. The band has once again put together 11 instantly hitting melodic rock anthems, bursting with surplus pomp and melodic catchiness. The three opening tracks lift the album straight to an early atmospheric peak, led by the opener I Don’t Wanna Say I’m Sorry (the riff gently borrows from the riff of A-HA’s hit Sun Always Shines on TV), then the super-catchy single Stand on Your Feet, and The Storm right after it, while the rest hints at a mild case of recycling and repackaged ideas. This is the Eclipse album that comes closest to the work of W.E.T., which is logical in its own way, since Erik Mårtensson is involved in W.E.T. too. Wide Open keeps up that predictability, and so do the calmer, darker Live Like I’m Dying, and Breakdown with its Southern country intro. None of it surprises, even though, within the stylistic template of an album like this, any spice that brings in shades of other genres is more than welcome.
The band still nails a track superbly. Erik Mårtensson knows exactly what he’s doing and how a song has to be built to »grab« you for the full payoff! Riffs, blankets of atmospheric synths, vocal harmonies stacked on the lead vocal, bravura atmospheric transitions in the »mid-eight« sections with flashes of virtuoso soloing, a tight, stomping rhythm section grind, a rousing and generally still optimistic atmosphere. It’s all here. Except that, because of the stylistic similarity (which makes sense), the new album doesn’t ignite as freshly anymore and, for all its high quality, doesn’t floor you the way the two predecessors did.
Strike while the iron is hot, and Erik Mårtensson surely knows it and acts on it. The album »Armageddonize« is a record that melodic rock fans, Eclipse fans, and fans of the other Scandinavian melodic rock revivalists will grab with both hands. No doubt about that. Artistically, the album is no longer any kind of surprise. But in the quality of its delivery it confidently maintains the full artistic consistency of a band that is using it to cement its position as one of the hottest melodic rock revival attractions of modern times. The magic and the spark aren’t dying out. They’ve just become predictable.
The band heads out on a new European tour at the beginning of next March. Eclipse have also confirmed their appearance at the next edition of the Frontiers Rock festival, where they play on April 11, 2014. Their fellow Swedes Adrenaline Rush have been picked as the tour’s support act.
Lineup
Erik Mårtensson – vocals, guitar
Magnus Henriksson – guitar
Magnus Ulfstedt – bass
Robban Bäck – drums
Production
Erik Mårtensson
Tracklist
1. I Don’t Wanna Say I’m Sorry
2. Stand On Your Feet
3. The Storm
4. Blood Enemies
5. Wide Open
6. Live Like I’m Dying
7. Breakdown
8. Love Bites
9. Caught Up In The Rush
10. One Life – My Life
11. All Died Young
