ECLIPSE - ARMAGEDDONIZE (ALBUM REVIEW 2015)

If you aren't familiar with Eclipse, they are a Swedish Melodic Rock band. Armageddonize was released earlier this year and is the fifth album in the band's discography. The band features Erik Martensson on vocals and rhythm guitar, Magnus Henriksson on lead and rhythm guitar, Robban Back on drums and Magnus Ulfstedt on bass guitar. This is a new band for me, so none of this info is from my brain, it's all from the internet and from the cd contents.

From a packaging standpoint, I can't find anything wrong. I think the album cover is really cool. It looks like a vinyl album cover, complete with the vinyl wear ring. The case is a tri-fold digipak and does have a cd tray. The package also contains a booklet that contains all of the song lyrics as well as the performance credits. The songs are, for the most part, written by Martensson and Henriksson, with a slight bit of help here and there.

The album opener contains a typical 80's style main riff. I Don't Wanna Say I'm Sorry has a big chorus. The lyric "that it was a stupid bad mistake" is a bit of a misfire for me, but the guitar solo certainly helps me get past that. Stand On Your Feet has very melodic verses and a sing along chorus. Quite simply, it's an excellent song. Three songs in and we have our first ballad in The Storm. Wait a minute, not so fast. That's just a short intro. The song turns into a nice rocker with cool bass work. It's just full of melodic goodness. While Blood Enemies contains very beautiful lead guitar work on the intro, Wide Open returns to the quick hitting melodic goody that the band seems to excel at. I would think that, in the old vinyl days, Live Like I'm Dying would close out side one. The pace slows for the whole song. The chorus is huge and the solo is played melodically with just a hint of shredding.

So we would open up side two with Breakdown, which contains terrific acoustic work and sounds like a Whitesnake/Scorpions hybrid to me (vocally it's the Scorpions and the drum riffage channels Whitesnake). I feel like I get my first taste of filler on the following track (Love Bites, not a Def Leppard cover). Caught Up In The Rush is the standout track on this album. I love the bass tone as it reminds me of Queensryche's bass tone on the Empire album. The song does have a gang-style backing vocal and there is some profanity present. It takes nothing away from the song if that's something that bothers you. The album ends on a low point for me, as the final two songs (One Life - My Life and All Died Young) just feel like filler.

This is an album that I purchase based on some hype from other sites and a couple of folks opinions that I respect. I certainly think it was a worthy purchase. My overall score would be a half point higher were it not for those last two songs. But if you like melodic rock, I do recommend this purchase. I will include a video from the album below as well as a link (HERE) to an album sampler if you'd like to hear a bit more. I highly recommend that you purchase this if you like it. These excellent rock bands need your support.

Final Rating - 3.5 Out Of 5 Stars

Track Listing:

1. I Don't Wanna Say I'm Sorry

2. Stand On Your Feet

3. The Storm

4. Blood Enemies

5. Wide Open

6. Live Like I'm Dying

7. Breakdown

8. Love Bites

9. Caught Up In The Rush

10. One Life - My Life

11. All Died Young

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Permalink Reply by TageRyche on April 2, 2015 at 3:41pm

I have one of their earlier albums, so I'm familiar with the band just a bit.

And Erik Martensson plays a role in the next album I'm planning to review. I don't know if I'm going to get this album but thanks for giving me some food for thought.