|
Frontiers/Playground
Eclipse have reached album number five. Erik Mårtensson & Co are always somewhere on my list as they have taken the late 80´s/early 90´s WHITESNAKE sound one step further. What keeps my interest at bay is the fact that Erik is writing songs for so many other artists, which inevitably means that there are echoes of him all over Frontiers output. To me ECLIPSE also has another more modern Scandi-AOR side, which I find less intriguing.
But back to this 11-track offering, we have the band slightly revamped. Erik on guitars and lead vocals, Magnus Henriksson, of cause, on guitars, Robban Bäck on drums, Johan Berlin on keys, and former drummer Magnus Ulfstedt returns but on bass. As always they are lavishly echoing of the eighties and with such a voice, who wouldn´t?
They open in fine fashion with “I Don´t Wanna Say I´m Sorry”, which takes about 30 seconds to enter WHITESNAKR “1987-territory”. The pace is right, the lyrics are like Cov´s and the riff is bang on. That is the story of a lot of this album. “Blood Enemies” is more metal than usual, “Breakdown” opens not unlike BLUE MURDER´s “Jelly Roll”, and retorts to Scandi-AOR. My favourite, “Love Bites”, is yet another faster and raunchier number. All in all they do very good, yet the sound is sometimes standing out the wrong way to me, and sometimes they hit WHITESNAKE territory and I love them instantly. My favourite album, “Are You Ready to Rock” from 2008 remains but I don´t think ECLIPSE will ever make a bad album.
Track List
I Don´t Wanna Say I´m Sorry
Stand on Your Feet
The Storm
Blood Enemies
Wide Open
Live Like I´m Dying
Breakdown
Love Bites
Caught Up in the Rush
One Life - My Life
All Died Young
www.frontiers.it www.eclipsemania.com
|
