{"id":21911,"date":"2012-09-06T18:40:04","date_gmt":"2012-09-06T23:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=21911"},"modified":"2013-02-05T16:27:18","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T21:27:18","slug":"eclipse-bleed-scream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2012\/eclipse-bleed-scream\/","title":{"rendered":"Eclipse | Bleed & Scream<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Mark Allen<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Riding a tsunami of hype comes Bleed & Scream<\/em>, the latest release from Swedish melodic rockers Eclipse. Visit music forums and read early reviews and you will find both customers and critics stumbling over themselves to heap praise on this album and thumbing through thesauruses to glean as many synonyms for \u201cawesome\u201d as they can. Bleed & Scream<\/em> has been called perfect, classic, and genre-defining. The time has come for some rebel soul to jump off the bandwagon, cut through the crap, and stop running with the lemmings to kiss the band\u2019s collective hindquarters.<\/p>\n

Yeah, well, someone else will have to do it, because this album deserves a sizable chunk of the adoration with which it is being crowned. Yes, it\u2019s a little over-hyped; the album is not perfect and certainly not the greatest melodic rock release of the last decade. But it is good. Very good. Hell, the superlative \u201cdamn good\u201d may even be in order here.<\/p>\n

Bleed & Scream<\/em> strives for perfection. Every aspect, every facet, has been carefully crafted to deliver maximum melodic hard rock impact. The guitars are intense, the vocals are stellar, and the production could not sound better if God\u2019s own fingers had twiddled the knobs. The band gave it their all on this one, delivering a tour-de-force, pouring every last drop of blood, sweat, and tears into serving up a killer album. They went gunning for a bulls-eye and even those who think they missed the 10-ring will readily agree that they missed it by not much more than a gnat\u2019s nut-hair.<\/p>\n

Sound wise, you can draw any number of mix-and-match comparisons. The overall sound of the guitar domination brings to mind Steelhouse Lane. Some of the more metallic riffs recall the heavy-edged melodies of Pretty Maids. When the AOR hooks hit the sweet spot, they are reminiscent of W.E.T. And the slick, polished, multi-layered, wall-of-sound engineering begs comparisons to last year\u2019s acclaimed Toby Hitchcock album Mercury\u2019s Down. In fact, to give someone a good gist of what Bleed & Scream<\/em> sounds like, you could tell them it sounds like a harder version of that Hitchcock offering. The melodic sensibilities and hooky songs are similar; Eclipse just give them an edgier, more aggressive guitar punch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWake Me Up\u201d is a great opener, showcasing the massive thunder of the drums and letting it be known that this is not going to be a low-key affair. The chorus is on the simplistic side\u2014a trait common to a few songs and one of the reasons the album doesn\u2019t merit a perfect score\u2014but the excellent musicianship, amazing vocals, and monster production offer satisfactory compensation. \u201cFalling Down\u201d should have fans reaching for the Repeat button, straddling the fuzzy line between rock and metal. The guitars slam out sizzling riffs that lead directly to a face-hammering chorus packed with delicious harmonies. But nothing compares to the beauty of \u201cThe Unspoken Heroes,\u201d which may just be the best melodic hard rock song of the year, a soaring anthem with a smorgasbord of hooks to sate the hunger of anyone who considers catchiness to be top priority. It is, to put it succinctly, a nugget of sonic awesomeness.<\/p>\n

Does Bleed & Scream<\/em> eclipse all other melodic hard rock releases this year? Not quite, but the band have definitely bled their heart and soul all over this album and it shows. Even if it\u2019s not a masterpiece, it justifies your time and attention; after all, is there really anyone out there who would complain if they hoped to get $1 million and instead only received $999,000? Same principle applies here. Whether you rate it perfect, classic, or just damn good, this is one of the melodic rock highlights of 2012.<\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nErik Martenssom (vocals, guitar, bass)
\nMagnus Henriksson (lead guitar)
\nRobban Back (drums)
\nJohan Berlin (synthesizers)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1. Wake Me Up
\n2. Bleed and Scream
\n3. Ain\u2019t Dead Yet
\n4. Battlegrounds
\n5. A Bitter Taste
\n6. Falling Down
\n7. S.O.S.
\n8. Take Back the Fear
\n9. The Unspoken Heroes
\n10. About to Break
\n11. After the End of the World<\/p>\n

Label: Frontiers Records<\/p>\n

Webpage: http:\/\/www.eclipsemania.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 9\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mark Allen – Senior Columnist — Riding a tsunami of hype comes Bleed & Scream, the latest release from Swedish melodic rockers Eclipse. Visit music forums and read early reviews and you will find […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6772],"tags":[336,2960,374,2847,334],"class_list":{"0":"post-21911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2012","7":"tag-cd","8":"tag-eclipse","9":"tag-frontiers-records","10":"tag-melodic-hard-rock","11":"tag-review"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}