Eclipse - 'Megalomanium II' Date of release: 20 September 2024

The album is due out on 20th September but some of the music is already out there. ‘Apocalypse Blues’ was an early single. It’s not very bluesy at all and it’s got all of the features I mentioned above plus some big ball-sack rattling drum work. All of the music on the album has a euphoric feel but the apocalypse is just one of the gloomy subjects that the lyrics to some songs cover, alongside war, goodbyes, falling to pieces and the death of a parent, but somehow you still get to the end of the album feeling good and ready to take on all the world. ‘The Spark’ was another early single. It doesn’t even make it to 3 minutes on the clock but it is already a bit of a fan favourite and even made it into the band’s very well-received set at the Stonedead festival this August.

‘Falling To My Knees’ is another instant classic. Singer, Erik Martensson describes it as “a song for all the people who have been punched in the teeth by love” and, let’s face it, everyone has a plan until that happens. I mentioned Big Country earlier, and this song, after a Ramones-style count-in, actually has a semi-celtic feel for a few seconds at the start before it fires up in typical Eclipse fashion with lashings of woah-ohs and na-na-nas and some furious and fabulous guitar (maybe including a couple of bars that sound like part of “Beat It”) courtesy of Magnus Henriksson who, of course, has been by Erik’s side since the beginning of the band and is not to be underestimated.

‘All I Want’ is one of those songs that slips outside of the template a wee bit. There is still plenty of classic Eclipse in it but surprisingly, it also sounds a bit like Bryan Adams fronting Blink-182 at times too, and that’s not a bad thing by the way. ‘Still My Hero’ is the emotional one. It is a tribute to Erik’s late father but it is far from a melancholic dirge and features a delightful and delicate guitar motif over the usual familiar Eclipse ingredients in a tune that soars to the heavens.

Everyone at Rockfiend loves a big knee-trembling power ballad (some more than others) and ‘Dive into You’ is 4-minutes of bliss. Lyrically, it reinforces the messages that it is better to burn out than fade away, you don’t know what you’ve got (until you realise it’s over) and we’re all just dust in the wind. Again, it’s not as gloomy as it seems from the lyrics and the song actually does make you feel good all over. A classic.

Elsewhere, ‘Until the War Is Over’ initially has a spaghetti western feel, while ‘Divide & Conquer’ is all about the hard-riffing guitar work. The album finishes very strongly with a hard-hitting trio of outstanding songs. ‘Pieces’ is a thing of beauty which also features one of Magnus’ best solos, while ‘To Say Goodbye’ is all about the vocal, with Erik singing his wee Swedish heart out – this one gives you goosebumps. On an album where most songs clock out just after 3 minutes, ‘One in a Million’ is an outlier at 5:43, but that lets the band chuck everything into it. It is clearly Eclipse but it’s also heavier, with Swedish death metal stylings, doom-riffing throughout, some metal-style vocals, a hint of thrash and even a dash of Powerwolfy religious chanting thrown in. You have to hear it to believe it really, as they’ve never done anything quite like this before.

So, there you have it. The band still party like they have done since 1999, and it all sounds reassuringly familiar but, at the same time, they have crafted a fresh and invigorating set of songs that captures and preserves their core and spirit while still pushing the boundaries of what they can do. Knowing what you do best and having a firm identity is never a bad thing and these fellas do what they do very well indeed, but it is never boring. This album is well worth a pre-order.