Eclipse
Armageddonize

On their last (pretty cliché covered) album Eclipse got the thumbs up from most of the hard rock community, even our own Daniel Källmalm said it was good and 2 1/2 years later it’s time for the fifth album - the follow up to ’Bleed And Scream’, which ought to generate some pretty high expectations.

The last few years has put Erik Mårtensson high among stars in melodic hard rock, which should be a natural thing when you consider that he’s played on albums like ’Rise Up’ (7p, 2013), ’Never Too Late’ (5p, 2012), ’Mercury’s Down (5p, 2011), ’W.E.T.’ (6p, 2009) besides the previously mentioned ’Bleed And Scream’ (5p, 2012) and these five albums have an average score of 5,6 which is almost unearthly good on Hallowed. Every new album with the guy should be taken seriously regardless which band he’s in and on this album he shows both what a great guitarist and vocalist he is. The third track of this album is where the fun really begins, here the album really takes a grip of you and keeps you there the entire 43 minutes - rocking your world so hard it could open any cork in New York.

The opening song is called I Don’t Want To Say I’m Sorry and is a track that screams AOR so hard it almost blows right out of that genre. The following track is even heavier and feels more on the line of hard rock than arena rock. the third song is called The Storm and it’s a track that could become a hit any given day with such an addictive chorus. There are more great songs coming, though, and one can almost become religious when you hear the magical choirs of Blood Enemies, the catchy chorus of Wide Open, the breathtaking verses in Live Like I’m Dying, the altogether brilliant Breakdown or the sing-along anthem Caught Up In The Rush. The songs really just fly by as things often do when you’re having fun - and fun is something ’Armageddonize’ should be able to do.

The production is made by the guitarists Mårtensson and Magnus Henriksson and it really just gets better the higher you play the music. There is a new boy in the band on this album, bass playing Magnus Ulfstedt and he shows proof of his abilities when he thrash around in Caught Up In The Rush. What a great bass track! On the album we also hear Robban Bäck shuffling some black coal behind his drum set and Magnus Henriksson make all those exciting sounds with his guitar that makes Eclipse feel just a little bit better on their instruments than most other bands in this genre.

So what is the genre? Well, Daniel describded ’Bleed And Scream’ as ”it is hard rock/metal that is very melodic. It is pieced together with some parts heavy metal of the Helloween school, some melodic poprock like the one of Europe and a touch of “look-at-me-I-can-play-the guitar” kind of like Yngwie Malmsteen. Then all this is spiced up with some AOR-seasoning spread thinly on top of this musical stew” and I can’t do other than agree with him. Maybe this one feels more AOR than anything else but it’s still incredible heavy so I would go as far as saying they are AOR… maybe Metal Oriented Rock… MOR?

There we have it… we got some seriously good songs, well produced sound, mixed genres and great individual performances - what else can you wish for? Not much, so where’s the top score? Well, for some reason I just don’t feel it’s perfect. I have this nagging feeling all the time as I listen to the album and see the play counter climb higher. 5… 6… 7… 8… 9… and somewhere around the two digit marker is where I’m starting to get why I’m not 100% satisfied. I’m missing the flamboyance - the big bang, the ocean of mad colours or whatever you want to call it. It’s almost like the album doesn’t understand that it’s a fucking amazing album and don’t shout about enough. It’s feels to shy, like it’s just saying ”look at me” and then hope that someone hears it but to be heard you need to bleed and scream! Also I feel there’s an issue with the track order because as it sits the best tracks are all bundled in the middle of the album which means it neither starts or ends as good as it could. This all makes the album loose some glance and not as special as it could (and should) feel. And that’s what makes me slightly disappointed with this amazing album.

Shortly put, ’Armageddonize’ is a damn good album but the reason why I don’t put a higher score on it is because it lacks some of that special feeling that an album in the top scores should have. However, I really recommend it and it’s definitely a real gem that should be a difficult yard stick to beat this year!

HHHHHHH