Eclipse – Armageddonize
Release Date: February 20, 2015
Record Label: Frontiers Records
Before giving Swedish melodic rockers Eclipse’s latest album Armageddonize an earnest listen, I really didn’t know what to expect. Being that they were signed to Frontiers Records, the first thing I did was to look at the line up to see if this was another “not-so” super group made of has been glam metal rockers. To my surprise, I didn’t know a single name in the line up so at least I knew I could put all bias aside. I crossed my fingers and as the first song “I Don’t Wanna Say I’m Sorry” I just found myself smiling, tapping my foot, and sporting a shit eating grin. Why? This is the music of my youth with a brand new set of legs.
“Wide Open” is a song of arena hard rock proportions while “Live Like I’m Dying” is hands down one of the best power ballads I’ve heard in 20 something years. This Scorpions like jam had me seeing visions of a packed arena with cigarette lighters (not cell phones) up in the air as lead singer/guitarist Erik Mårtensson cuts through the air with his sharp, soulful, powerful vocals as lead guitarist Magnus Henriksson shreds leads that would have Matthias Jabs wanting to high five his ass.
Eclipse is very accurately called melodic hard rock and I can honestly say that they live up to every word of that genre tag. Listening to Eclipse takes me back to a time where this kind of music filled arenas with larger than life stage productions and songs with hooks that were so goddamn infectious that they make the hairs on your arm stand at full attention. Just listening Armageddonize can hear elements of Scorpions, early Def Leppard, and even a hint of early Skid Row in there. Eclipse manages to do all this without sounding overly nostalgic or dated. They sound very much like a modern band who cut their teeth on those bands and have found a way to deliver it in a way that isn’t dated or even dishonest.
Armageddonize is a melodic hard rock riff lover’s dream come true that just doesn’t know when to quit. Song after song, Eclipse serves up some of the most eargasmic melodic hard rock that I’ve heard in years. With Armageddonize, Eclipse has secured their place as a band that I will be listening out more for in the figure. Sometimes metal can get a bit drab. Even as much as I love metal as a whole, sometimes I just need to feel uplifted a little bit and not forced to think too much. That isn’t saying that Eclipse isn’t a smart band. They are just a band that knows the magic of taking their listener away from it all and for the duration of time they are listening to feel like they are just being entertained with some well produced, well written, and well executed meldodic hard rock.
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