Although they’ve been a relatively consistent purveyor of big tunes over the years, it’s unlikely that many would have been expecting Eclipse to drop one of the most unpredictable wildcard releases of 2019. And yet, that’s just what Eclipse have gone and done with their staggeringly massive sounding seventh effort, ‘Paradigm.
A textbook example of failing to lose momentum in terms of quality control and energy, the record flies out of the traps with the neo-classical opening into the quasi-country tinged stomp of first single, ‘Viva la Victoria’, and never lets up from then on; boasting a gargantuan chorus, and an incredibly elevated performance from Erik Mȧrtensson that could put Mr. Kennedy to shame by the time the new Alterbridge record rears its heads in a few short weeks.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-EvFAx0OsE&w=560&h=315]It also does a significantly better job at injecting a loose rockabilly vibe to the track than their fellow Swedes, Volbeat did on their recent release, which was sorely lacking their very signature trait. The folky undertones are continued on the genuinely impressive ‘Blood Wants Blood’, with a brooding outlaw country influence to the guitars, and an overall classic Springsteen vibe that latter day Jon Bon Jovi would sell his bollocks to attain.
There are healthy dollops of 80’s pomp to bangers such as ‘Mary Leigh’ and the Van Halen-esque album highlight, ‘Delirious.’ Even when they take it down a notch on the relative power balladry of ‘Shelter Me’, there’s still a significant punch to the instrumentation, and a chorus that will have many cathartically weeping into their pint like a yeti discovering therapy. If that image isn’t enough to get you to check out ‘Paradigm’, I frankly don’t know what will
Paradigm” is Eclipse tour de force: the crafting of the tracks on this album is su-perb and overall this is a killer hard rock album with many highlights. If you like modern, well-played well-produced hard rock, don’t miss it.
Tracklist:
- Viva La Victoria
- Mary Leigh
- Blood Wants Blood
- Shelter Me
- United
- Delirious
- When The Winter Ends
- .38 Or .44
- Never Gonna Be Like You
- The Masquerade
- Take Me Home
Line-up:
Erik Mårtensson – vocals, guitars
Magnus Henriksson – guitars
Philip Crusner – drums
There is a limited picture vinyl available for the single “Viva La Victoria”:
Connect with Eclipse:
https://www.instagram.com/eclipse_sweden
https://www.facebook.com/EclipseSweden/
https://spoti.fi/2ZfHtHG (Spotify)
