Years ago, when I reviewed an Eclipse record, I tried to coin a new term. “Pow-AOR Metal”. Personally, I thought it was ace. It didn’t catch on.
But it’s the only way to approach the Stockholm mob, frankly. Yes, they are masters of AOR, but they are heavier than FM (or indeed the thousands of Swedish AOR bands knocking around).
The opener here, “Apocalypse Blues” is a fizzing start, a-rumbling and a thundering, but then they have a good old parp on “The Spark” and the riffs of “Falling To My Knees” are exactly the type of thing grunge reckoned it was going to kill. Good luck with that.
Essentially, Eclipse are a sugar rush. If the Foos had done “All I Want” then Dave Grohl would have a gold disc to put in his mistress’ downstairs bog and the euphoria (and the stack harmonies) of “Still Into You” belong in arenas.
Some bands have a naturally “big” sound. Eclipse are one of them. “Dive Into You” has a go at Bon Jovi stuff, and “Until The War Is Over” belongs in arenas, but here’s the thing; “Divide And Conquer” is a metal song. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
The fact they do things differently from everyone else they are meant to sound like is underlined by “Pieces”, which would, 100% be a power ballad in other hands. The fact that “To Say Goodbye” sort of is, only serves to prove that Eclipse could do this stuff if they wanted to, they just choose not to. Often, anyway.
“One In A Million” is not – thank goodness – a cover of GnR, but instead, is an example of confident, classy, slightly grandiose hard rock. There are 10 others to go with it.
“Megalomanium II” is the total Eclipse, you might say. Whatever, it’s from the heart.
Rating 8.5/10
