Eclipse Cd Review

"Don't Stop Believing", the mantra that Journey has lived by since 1973, seems to have attested to the band’s faith and determination as they released their 14th studio album, Eclipse (sometimes stylized as ECL1P53), in the same year that their 1981 best-selling album, Escape, with its hit titled “Don’t Stop Believin”, turned 30. But while Neal Schon, founding member and lead guitarist, calls it "my favorite record that we've ever done," he says the group would rather be making new music than necessarily remembering its past.

"City Of Hope" opens the album in Journey-styled tradition as it sings of courage and the fountain of faith, assembled on musical melodies and intermittent interventions of Schon’s guitar freak-outs. There’s a definite U2 influence resembled in the guitar chords, but Filipino lead singer Arnel Pineda, who sings on his second studio album with Journey, allows the song to remain unique and classical in the band’s distinctive sound.

Track two, "Edge Of The Moment", shares many of Journey’s alternative rock contemporaries and has a diverse and densely layered instrumentation of nonstandard chords which leads directly into the open arms of "Chain Of Love," whose pianistic components and classical pretensions echo fervently against Pineda’s vocals which sing in ethereal plateau, restoring artistic dignity. Just as the track aspires towards a deeper impact, exploring moods, textures and memories in a way that draws in the subconscious, Schon enters with symphonic context which encompasses the holy trinity of creative endeavour: intellect, emotion and imagination.

"Tantra" introduces the first ballad of the album, and no one does ballads like Journey does. It begins with the same logic of a dream, clear in its own terms but something which you cannot express in words, and just before it reminds you of the theme song to a Walt Disney movie you once saw the rest of the band join in in a beautiful conclusion that is poetic in its communing musical spirits. The track ends in the same sentiment that it opened with, taking the listener on a magic carpet ride of their own.

Tracks like "Human Feel" and "Ritual" are hard rocking songs that date back to the band’s first three albums. As Schon himself said in an interview about Eclipse, “this record is more a stadium rock record, like our 2011 version of 1983’s Frontiers, maybe a bit more progressive and not afraid to go in some areas we’ve never been.”

The tempo is brought back down again with "To Whom It May Concern" in another ballad, powerful and divine as Pineda’s vocals soar to new heights and tear through the song as if his voice were another instrument, a unique and indispensable part of the band’s total sound.

"Someone" is the final lyrical song of the album and is possibly the happiest track on the album in the feel-good way that it will repeat itself over and over in your head. This leads into the final instrumentation which is a collaboration of pure musicianship as they combine instruments and talent, generated by an unadulterated love for music.

Eclipse, written and composed by lead guitarist and co-founder, Neal, Schon, takes many chances throughout as they have allowed this album a little more instrumental time. "This was kind of a vision of my record, and I'm grateful to the band for finally letting me do one," Schon added.

Eclipse Tracklist

01. City Of Hope
02. Edge Of The Moment
03. Chain Of Love
04. Tantra
05. Anything Is Possible
06. Resonate
07. She's A Mystery
08. Human Feel
09. Ritual
10. To Whom It May Concern
11. Someone
12. Venus (Instrumental)

Journey Line-up

Vocals: Arnel Pineda
Guitar: Neal Schon
Guitar & Keyboard: Jonathan Cain
Bass: Ross Valory
Drums: Deen Castronovo

Journey Weblinks

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