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Glen

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Not sure if anyone has read this - initial views over at Melodic Rock.com -

 

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A CLASSIC ON THE HORIZON:

The buzz surrounding Journey's upcoming new studio album Eclipse has already started. Due out May 24 in North America via WalMart and Rest Of The World June 3 via Frontiers Records, the new album has been described by Neal Schon as "...a rock record...sounds amazing..." and by Jonathan Cain "a concept record with some spiritual themes to it…pretty tough, hard-hitting stuff." Band management described it to me as "very melodic.. but more rock...longer songs...".

Some very attention grabbing quotes there for long time fans of the band and of this genre in general to salivate over. But fans are often let down when the advance descriptions don't match the finished product. Well not this time!

 

ECLIPSE is a MASTERPIECE. There...I've said it. This is one bold, brave, challenging and exquisitely constructed album. Yes, it rocks. Like Journey haven't rocked since 1981...and then some. It is one of the boldest, bravest moves I have heard from a classic rock band. Maybe EVER as far as a band of this age goes. But it is still as catchy and melodic as ever. There are so many twists and turns, it is almost progressive in places. This record will likely scare the shit out of fans of Raised On Radio, it has big balls.

Eclipse is dark and heavy, yet melodic. Adventurous, yet familiar. Moody, yet uplifting. Simply bloody AMAZING.

 

This has been on daily constant rotation for a while now....it has had plenty of time to sink in or wear off and it simply gets better and better. It's a bit rawer than we might be used to from the ever polished Journey though...very well mixed, with a lot constantly going on, but it has such raw energy and power.

The constant wall of guitars on this record is unbelievable. Fans of Neal Schon are going to love hearing that EVERY song features wailing solos (sometimes several in one song) and truly hard rocking riffs. The songs are LONG. Most over 6 mins, a few under. It really does feature some utterly amazing guitar work. Neal sounds like 5-guitarists-in-one on some tracks. So much to absorb. And drummer Deen Castronovo is a frickin machine. He has never pounded so hard on those skins, not even in Hardline. I have no hesitation in saying that. The drumming on this album is brutal!

Jonathan Cain has delivered some of his finest lyrics in a long long time. I'm really struck by the depth of the lyrics on this record. It has a spiritual nature and deals with human emotions throughout, but there are some truly uplifting and inspiring lyrics in play here - no matter what the emotion of each song is.

Arnel Pineda - well, what can I say. Eclipse is one powerful record and Arnel is pushed to the outer limits of human ability with some of the vocals here. Even when wailing, the soul and emotion within his voice remains true. He spends a lot of the album signing in his own natural timbre, not trying to be Steve Perry or anyone else. But it is still 100% Journey and it works so well. What a stunning vocal performance. STUNNING. His vocals are a MILE in front of Revelation (and how good were those anyway!).

 

The songs - not one weak moment on there at all. Not one song I would ever skip due to any particular mood. It has to be played thru from start to finish every time - but you'll need over 60 mins to do so! Watch for the hardest rocking Chain Of Love; the heavy, dark mood of Edge Of A Moment (kinda Separate Ways 2011), the upliting feel good anthem Anything Is Possible (sounds like classic Joruney/Bad English AOR); the beyond description She's A Mystery (guitar/vocal acoustic track that turns into Rush meets Triumph!) and one of the most powerful ballads I have heard in years, with vocal power beyond description - Tantra. And of course the classic Journey style anthem City Of Hope, which is released as a single April 4.

But as stated, each and every track here is a classic on its own and favourite tracks vary from day to day.

 

Eclipse has to be considered a masterpiece. Simply put - it is one of the FINEST albums I have heard in my time running this site and has immediately declared itself to be one of my favourite Journey albums EVER. Stay tuned for more...

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Yeah me too, ive been waiting years for Journey to truly rock out again.....ala 'Edge Of The Blade' type stuff. Although reading some comments on-line some of this album is even heavier than that! Stoked.

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Remember when Bon Jovi claimed to be returning to their older rock roots, or 100 other bands for that matter.

Every band out there always claims that their newest album is their greatest ever, or that its a return to their roots etc.

I always remain sceptical until I either hear the album or at least some samples.

 

Never pays to get you hopes too high in this day and age.

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That review is setting the album up nicely but we`ll have to see when it comes out.

 

Roll on 27th May for the European release. :guitbannana:

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Remember when Bon Jovi claimed to be returning to their older rock roots, or 100 other bands for that matter.

Every band out there always claims that their newest album is their greatest ever, or that its a return to their roots etc.

I always remain sceptical until I either hear the album or at least some samples.

 

Never pays to get you hopes too high in this day and age.

 

yeah your thoughts are mirrored -

 

Some very attention grabbing quotes there for long time fans of the band and of this genre in general to salivate over. But fans are often let down when the advance descriptions don't match the finished product. Well not this time!

 

Maybe for once we wont be let down eh?? ;-)

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Remember when Bon Jovi claimed to be returning to their older rock roots, or 100 other bands for that matter.

Every band out there always claims that their newest album is their greatest ever, or that its a return to their roots etc.

I always remain sceptical until I either hear the album or at least some samples.

 

Never pays to get you hopes too high in this day and age.

 

Agreed 100%. It actually sound like it is going to be a disappointment to "classic" Journey fans. Personally, "classic" Journey gets boring pretty fast to me. No denying that they have recorded some classic stuff.. but to me the songs just don't hold up over time.

 

Having said all of that... It sounds like this may be a release I may have to check out. If it really does have a "raw" feel it is already sounding better to me. Comparing one of songs to Triumph and Rush also has my attention... I'm interested in hearing this one. Also, the reference to Hardline has me thinking I may like this one.

 

We shall see... :tumbsup:

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Ive been a fan since the early 70's. I have almost every CD and ive enjoyed every version of Journey. Through all the changes Ive loved their music. When many complained about the changes in the music or the band I just rolled with it and enjoyed the ride. I guess, a real fan, good or bad. No matter what others said. ;)

 

Ive always wanted them to rock harder like in the old days, even BEFORE Steve Perry. And from what Ive read so far this CD is going to be like that. I can only hope, wait, and see. Im looking forward to Eclipse. And will buy it no matter. :tumbsup:

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I'll get it too and I'm sure it'll be pretty good. Considering I never thought Journey were ever that magnificent anyway, it doesn't really have much to live up to, to be honest. But from what I heard of those samples posted a while ago I dare say there probably is a lot of truth to the above statements and I'm sure diehard Journey fans will lap this up.

 

Me, I'm sure I'll just add it to the collection as another decent album... like the rest of the Journey albums I own. :)

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Ive been a fan since the early 70's. I have almost every CD and ive enjoyed every version of Journey. Through all the changes Ive loved their music. When many complained about the changes in the music or the band I just rolled with it and enjoyed the ride. I guess, a real fan, good or bad. No matter what others said. ;)

 

Ive always wanted them to rock harder like in the old days, even BEFORE Steve Perry. And from what Ive read so far this CD is going to be like that. I can only hope, wait, and see. Im looking forward to Eclipse. And will buy it no matter. :tumbsup:

 

amen to that

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I'm sure this will be good and the news that it rocks more makes me even more interested. I really like Journey and liked the last disc but it was a little to light so if this one is heavier than count me in.

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Sounds like a load of overhype to me. I really liked the last album as it was pretty much classic-sounding Journey with some great songwriting. Longer songs (I've usually lost interest after 5 minutes of a track) and raw production sounds like my idea of hell. Is also strange how, despite all the comments about how this blows their last albums away etc etc blah blah, that soundbyte from "City of Hope" sounds almost exactly like the stuff off the last album anyway! I'm sure it will be good, but I doubt it will be that good.

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Longer songs (I've usually lost interest after 5 minutes of a track) and raw production sounds like my idea of hell.

I only own two Journey CDs. Arrival and Greatest hits.

Arrival was the first album I bought by them (someone had burned me a compilation album years ago, but I rarely listened to it) and my biggest problem is that not only were the songs too long with nearly every song being over five minutes, but the album was too long as well which meant I lost interest in the whole thing.

I dont mind an album having one or two long songs, but when every song is five minutes or more long, then that ends up being a bit of a drag.

Raw sounding is ok with me, but like you say, longer tracks do not inspire me to buy an album.

 

I do really like a lot of the obvious classics, hence the Greatest hits album, but Arrival was enough to put me off risking in investing money in any of the rest of their catalogue.

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Longer songs (I've usually lost interest after 5 minutes of a track) and raw production sounds like my idea of hell.

I only own two Journey CDs. Arrival and Greatest hits.

Arrival was the first album I bought by them (someone had burned me a compilation album years ago, but I rarely listened to it) and my biggest problem is that not only were the songs too long with nearly every song being over five minutes, but the album was too long as well which meant I lost interest in the whole thing.

I dont mind an album having one or two long songs, but when every song is five minutes or more long, then that ends up being a bit of a drag.

Raw sounding is ok with me, but like you say, longer tracks do not inspire me to buy an album.

 

I do really like a lot of the obvious classics, hence the Greatest hits album, but Arrival was enough to put me off risking in investing money in any of the rest of their catalogue.

You sound like a similar "fan" to me. You should actually check out their last CD - 'Revelation.' I thought that was easily their best yet (from what I've heard, which is everything from the 80's until now). Good disc and if they do something similar again, it'll be good. But I totally agree with you guys. Something as simple as long songs will kill an album for me unless it's absolutely stunning.

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I'll buy it because it's Journey but I'll reign in my excitement until I hear it and the proof is in the pudding I think. Too many albums over the last few years, especially in the AOR genre, have arrived with a huge fanfare only to be revealed as a duck whistle thru a megaphone...pah...I don't buy into it anymore.

But then again this is Journey.....

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Longer songs (I've usually lost interest after 5 minutes of a track) and raw production sounds like my idea of hell.

I only own two Journey CDs. Arrival and Greatest hits.

Arrival was the first album I bought by them (someone had burned me a compilation album years ago, but I rarely listened to it) and my biggest problem is that not only were the songs too long with nearly every song being over five minutes, but the album was too long as well which meant I lost interest in the whole thing.

I dont mind an album having one or two long songs, but when every song is five minutes or more long, then that ends up being a bit of a drag.

Raw sounding is ok with me, but like you say, longer tracks do not inspire me to buy an album.

 

I do really like a lot of the obvious classics, hence the Greatest hits album, but Arrival was enough to put me off risking in investing money in any of the rest of their catalogue.

You sound like a similar "fan" to me. You should actually check out their last CD - 'Revelation.' I thought that was easily their best yet (from what I've heard, which is everything from the 80's until now). Good disc and if they do something similar again, it'll be good. But I totally agree with you guys. Something as simple as long songs will kill an album for me unless it's absolutely stunning.

 

Journey did have a lot of great albums, IMHO

i don't consider myself a huge fan but weird is that i have 11 studio albums and 1 DVD (live in Manila) lol

 

i guess Raised on Radio, Escape, Frontiers (serafino even used that album name for his label lol), Trial By Fire, Arrival, and Revelation are the best discs so far, looking forward to Eclipse :whistle:

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Guest Melodic Buzz

I hope this CD shows the fans that Journey is still an amazing band without Steve Perry. The last 2 discs from Journey have been my fav's from the band. And this next one should prove to be just as good or better if the reviews are all they are cracked up to be. Long live Journey (WITHOUT STEVE PERRY!) :party421:

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I dont mind longer songs as long as they are constructed well and interesting all the way through.

 

For example

 

The new Ten album is in my opinion excellent and I can listen to every track without skipping

 

Whereas the Faithhealer album was bloody awful.....just repeating the same (boring) chorus about 15 times is enough for bore anyone to tears.

 

As for Journey, the thought of 6 mins songs means more awesomeness from Mr Schon, so im pretty excited actually :-))

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  • 4 weeks later...

v2_sec-bg.jpg

 

Samples from Eclipse can now be found at:

http://www.amazon.co...03171291&sr=8-7

 

Also, their website has been re-done with an "Eclipse" theme:

http://www.journeymusic.com/

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