Swedish hard rockers Eclipse hit a pair of home runs with their first two releases Bleed and Scream and Armageddonize, so how does their third Frontiers Records offering fare? Well, as with those albums, Monumentum is an immediately infectious record, one that hits you right from the opening riffs of the addicting "Vertigo" and never lets go. That's always the characteristic of a strong album, one that is able to make an immediate impact from the very first listen, and Eclipse have done that once again here. Song after song featuring memorable choruses, blistering riffs, and melodies that stick with you for hours and hours. Erik Mårtensson (lead vocals, guitars), Magnus Henriksson (guitars), Philip Crusner (drums), and Magnus Ulfstedt (bass) have crafted here an album of powerful, majestic melodic rock that, in a perfect world, would be filling stadiums and sitting at the top of music charts around the globe.
I mean, this is fist pumping, air guitar playing, sing along type stuff here, tunes like "No Way Back", "The Downfall of Eden", "Night Comes Crawling", and "Never Look Back" packed to the gills with memorable hooks and super crunchy guitar work that pushes all the right buttons. Even when the band do something different, like they do on the symphonic prog-metal meets doom of "Black Rain", the end results are still stellar. Mårtensson has a killer voice, his superhuman pipes saddling up next to Henriksson's John Sykes inspired riffing on the irresistible "Vertigo" and the hook heavy "Killing Me". If this was 1987, a tune such as "Jaded", or even "Born to Lead", would find a welcome home on FM hard rock radio as well as MTV, but the reality is, most of this album kind of falls into that category. Accessible, catchy melodic rock music and is tailor made for the masses.
We always joke here at SoT about how there must be 'something in the water' over there in Sweden, but man, it's just proven time and time again with bands coming out of that country. Eclipse are one of a slew of bands creating powerful, classy music that needs to be heard by the world at large, and Monumentum is another stellar release from them that I can easily recommend.
Track Listing
01 Vertigo
02 Never Look Back
03 Killing Me
04 The Downfall Of Eden
05 Hurt
06 Jaded
07 Born To Lead
08 For Better Or For Worse
09 No Way Back
10 Night Comes Crawling
11 Black Rain
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