Album Review: Eclipse - Megalomanium

Another album cycle brings the same issues it always has. Eclipse is a good band, and I like the music they make. They also remian the least interesting of Erik Martensson's projects. They lack the darker vibe of Nordic Union, and they don't have the grandeur of W.E.T. Eclipse sometimes comes across as trying too hard to be something they aren't, sometimes they're too saccharine for their own good. His penchant for punning titles isn't winning me over either, despite the fact I grew up listening to the sarcasm of Jim Steinman and Elvis Costello. I don't know, this all reeks of effort to me.

I was rather excited when "The Hardest Part Is Losing You" was released as the first single. It blended the band's typical sound with new elements, giving off some vibes of MCR's "The Black Parade". It's something fresh, quite interesting, and certainly does more to separate Eclipse from Erik's other works. Unfortunately, it was not the first harbinger of a new direction, but instead a one-off that opens the record with a false promise.

"Anthem" is indeed what the title suggests, as the backing vocals are layered thick on a rousing chorus. It takes the elements of traditional metal I've never thought work, and redeployed them in a way that turns a chorus of chanting voices into a song to the heavens. It works better for me than "Children Of The Night" does, because Erik doesn't have the right tone of voice to pull off something trying to be sinister and ultra-heavy for melodic rock. He's miscast in that role, and I'm not sure it's the best sound for Eclipse to be tackling.

Then there's "I Don't Get It", where Erik talks about the rich and privileged, then says "I can't take it anymore", without ever saying what it is about the situation he doesn't think is fair. As a social critique, it's completely lacking a thesis. He jumps from money to religion without ever identifying the problem. His anger is in no way justified by what he says in the lyrics, so it comes off sounding like knee-jerk jealousy, rather than a reasonable reaction to an unfair system.

The bigger issue is that this record is supposed to be Eclipse tackling some new sounds and ideas, but I'm not sure what that means. Other than the first track, this sounds just like every other Eclipse record I've listened to. They're all good, but they have a very defined style, and you can hear bits of guitar and vocal melodies that pop up time and again. Erik has written so many songs between his various projects that he does have a tendency to repeat himself to a degree. What that means is that even when an album like this is good, it feels too familiar right from the start.

That's the takeaway from this record. Eclipse always delivers melodic rock at the upper echelon of the genre, and that's no exception here. Erik writes great hooks, and these songs have plenty of them. The issue is that this record is interchangeable with all the others, both in basic sound, but also in some of the melodic phrasing. This one feels as if I've already listened to it as many times as their earlier works. While that might be great for hardcore fans who just want more of what they love, it leaves me unexcited to keep coming back. I'm struggling to hear why I need to learn all the nuances of this record when I already have multiple Eclipse records I can go to when I need a dose of big, hooky rock.

"Megalomanium" is a good record that leaves me asking, "Ok, now what?"