Eclipse – Wired Review

The songs drip with soul and energy whether they are hard hitting rockers or the calmer lighter in the air moments of tracks like Poison Inside My Heart and...

Released By: Frontiers Music SRL
Released On: October 8th, 2021
Genre: Hard Rock

Musicians:
Erik Mårtensson , Vocals,
Magnus Henriksson , Guitars,
Philip Crusner , Drums,
Victor Crusner , Bass,

Track Listing: Multiple Formats \ Layouts 

CD

Roses On Your Grave
Dying Breed
Saturday Night (Hallelujah)
Run For Cover
Carved In Stone
Twilight
Poison Inside My Heart
Bite The Bullet
We Didn’t Come To Lose
Things We Love
Dead Inside (CD and Digital Exclusive Bonus Track)

LP

Saturday Night (Hallelujah)
Twilight
Ain’t No Fun (Vinyl Exclusive Bonus Track)
Dying Breed
Carved In Stone
Things We Love
Roses On Your Grave
Run For Cover
Poison Inside My Heart
We Didn’t Come To Lose
Bite The Bullet

 

20 years…. holy cow, how did we get here? Eclipse are one of the new ones… one of the new generation of rock bands destined to keep the torch burning and the flag flying for anthemic hard rock with the sort of licks that only Gene Simmons tongue has previously been able to deliver.

For me, Eclipse began to register at Firefest V when Erik stepped in to cover vocal duties for H.E.A.T. as a result of Kenny Leckremo needing to undergo heart surgery at rather short notice. Obviously Kenny hadn’t read The Dirt at this point as he’d have realised what Nikki Sixx has managed to ‘kickstart his heart’ and he could have  then performed as well – maybe!

However step in he did and Erik (wearing an Eclipse t-shirt) brought his band to my attention and I’ve been a fan ever since. Are You Ready to Rock came out the same year and cemented the band as one to watch and one that proved they could deliver the sort of albums we’d been missing as hard rock \ AOR fans for several decades.

In the intervening years, the band have hardly ever put a foot wrong. Gigs and tours have cemented their reputation as one of the best on the circuit. Erik’s work with W.E.T. has ensured his legacy as a musician and songwriter will be cemented in stone and if we look at Eclipse’s output since then;

Bleed & Scream followed in 2012,
Are You Ready to Rock MMXIV came in 2014 and delivered a re-energised and redone version of the album,
Armageddonize came a year later in 2015,
the aptly titled Monumentum dropped in 2017, doing exactly what it said on the tin, with
Paradigm in 2019, keeping the faithful happy.

….it’s hardly surprising that each release has been eagerly anticipated and each one has also been greeted with rapturous praise.

How then do they continue down the same path? Each release has continuously offered a stellar set of tracks that the listener can latch onto instantly. Can the generous seam in the gold mine continue to provide what we the listener needs?

The album opens with the rumble, chatter and noise of a crowd waiting for a gig to start. Could there be a better way to introduce an album by reminding us of the one thing we’ve been missing for the last 18 months and more. It’s as if Eclipse want to give us everything back in one go. The show, the performance and the music. In one package. Yep, I’ll take that, thanks very much!

Hook wise, there are plenty. They’re huge, the sort that Robert Shaw should have used in Jaws to avoid being (spoiler) dinner to the shark at the end of the film.

The opening salvo of tracks, up to and including Run For Cover, deliver the goods faster than Amazon Prime’s Same Day service so to allow us to stand back and take stock, they drop a power ballad, Carved in Stone. Even that one pauses with about a minute to go and says “OK, you’ve had a time out, let’s hit the energy again”

Lyrically it’s very very, powerful. Erik isn’t trying to change the world but he signs from the heart with things that matter to him physiaclaly and emotionally and you can tell. The songs drip with soul and energy whether they are hard hitting rockers or the calmer lighter in the air moments of tracks like Poison Inside My Heart and Carved in Stone.

It’s a team effort on the album. Magnus Henriksson’s guitars sound, as ever, immaculate. Bassist Victor Crusner along with drummer and brother Philip, do an excellent job on the rhythm section and that brotherly synchronicity really pays off.

When you have bands like Europe that set the bar for Swedish rock music and off the back of that you have the new generation (20 years is new!) with acts like H.E.A.T, Crashdiet, Crazy Lixx and more, Eclipse continue to raise the bar and with this album do so once more.

Score 9/10 

Reviewed by Adrian Hextall

 

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