Eclipse - Paradigm (Out October 11th, 2019)

[Crazysam]

4 minutes ago, tts42572 said:

I'm not sure really even what they can do to improve.  Mostly just stop wasting good songs on other projects. 

I think that's a really good point and one you and a few others had mentioned recently regarding Erik having too many projects going on at once.  Not only might he be using some good song ideas for other bands, but some of the melodies and song structures that sounded great started sounding too similar to prior material and losing some of the appeal they had before when the ideas were fresh.  I recall a similar situation with Desmond Child during the late eighties.  He co-wrote and a produced a lot of great material for a lot of different artists. But after awhile the well started to run a bit dry.  Some of those melodies and lyric/song ideas that I thought were great a few years prior were being recycled and just didn't grab me as much.

[tts42572]

56 minutes ago, Crazysam said:

I think that's a really good point and one you and a few others had mentioned recently regarding Erik having too many projects going on at once.  Not only might he be using some good song ideas for other bands, but some of the melodies and song structures that sounded great started sounding too similar to prior material and losing some of the appeal they had before when the ideas were fresh.  I recall a similar situation with Desmond Child during the late eighties.  He co-wrote and a produced a lot of great material for a lot of different artists. But after awhile the well started to run a bit dry.  Some of those melodies and lyric/song ideas that I thought were great a few years prior were being recycled and just didn't grab me as much.

Yeah, I think that's really it.  I mean, if Paradigm were their first album and they were a new band, we'd probably all be salivating over it.

But we've now had all these Eclipse albums, 3 W.e.t album , 2 Nordic Unions albums, Ammunition and whatever else Erik works with.   It's all starting to kind sound like run of the mill stuff. 

I can't blame him as he's just trying to make a buck and do what he loves doing.  But it's also turning into a bit of oversaturation.

If it were up to me I'd say just stick with Eclipse and W.e.t and use other free time just producing/mixing for other bands.  No arguing he's a talented dude and quite an artist.  I couldn't even come up with one good album of material lol.

[AlphaMale]

38 minutes ago, tts42572 said:

Yeah, I think that's really it.  I mean, if Paradigm were their first album and they were a new band, we'd probably all be salivating over it.

But we've now had all these Eclipse albums, 3 W.e.t album , 2 Nordic Unions albums, Ammunition and whatever else Erik works with.   It's all starting to kind sound like run of the mill stuff. 

I can't blame him as he's just trying to make a buck and do what he loves doing.  But it's also turning into a bit of oversaturation.

If it were up to me I'd say just stick with Eclipse and W.e.t and use other free time just producing/mixing for other bands.  No arguing he's a talented dude and quite an artist.  I couldn't even come up with one good album of material lol.

Sort of what happened to me with David Reece. 

[CureTheSane]

For me, off the past albums I selected....

Are you Ready to Rock - 6 songs

Bleed & Scream - 4 songs

Armageddonize - 6 songs

Monumentum - 6 songs
 

Haven't got the first 2 albums yet.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

On 11/14/2019 at 7:45 PM, CureTheSane said:

For me, off the past albums I selected....

Are you Ready to Rock - 6 songs

Bleed & Scream - 4 songs

Armageddonize - 6 songs

Monumentum - 6 songs
 

Haven't got the first 2 albums yet.

Yeah... I'd suggest not worrying about the first two. 

[lettard]

1 hour ago, KarpetRydOFunk said:

Yeah... I'd suggest not worrying about the first two. 

Yeah they don't really resemble the others at all or indeed how the band now sounds.

[Glen]

I listened to most of this in a 2019 playlist today and it's actually growing on me.

still 2 or 3 deadset fillers but at least 5 or 6 good tracks.

will make my top 10 I reckon but only just 

[Geoff]

On 11/14/2019 at 6:34 AM, tts42572 said:

 

I'm not sure really even what they can do to improve.  Mostly just stop wasting good songs on other projects.  As much as I liked Nordic Union's debut, I think that's the project that should be stopped.  Quite a few songs used there that would've made good Eclipse tunes and with how melodic Pretty Maids has become they're doing it better. 

Let's make no mistake of it - Nordic Union have never been, nor will they ever be worth the sweat on Pretty Maids' ballsack.

That was my argument from day one with Nordic Union. Atkins and Pretty Maids have been writing killer tunes for probably longer than Martensson has been alive, so I never saw the point in the pairing.

If they'd combined their talents evenly I guess it could have been magic, but to have a great songwriter having songs written for him always seemed a bit silly to me. 

[Eric3]

11 hours ago, Geoff said:

Let's make no mistake of it - Nordic Union have never been, nor will they ever be worth the sweat on Pretty Maids' ballsack.

That was my argument from day one with Nordic Union. Atkins and Pretty Maids have been writing killer tunes for probably longer than Martensson has been alive, so I never saw the point in the pairing.

If they'd combined their talents evenly I guess it could have been magic, but to have a great songwriter having songs written for him always seemed a bit silly to me. 

Agreed with all of this. Nordic Union sounds just like Eclipse plus Ronnie Atkins minus solos. Very formulaic.

[Glen]

42 minutes ago, Eric3 said:

Agreed with all of this. Nordic Union sounds just like Eclipse plus Ronnie Atkins minus solos. Very formulaic.

second album was boring. first album was great imo. Not sure what you all on about. 

[Geoff]

14 hours ago, Glen said:

second album was boring. first album was great imo. Not sure what you all on about. 

Both bog average. Only difference is the debut has one killer tune and the other has none. 

[Glen]

1 hour ago, Geoff said:

Both bog average. Only difference is the debut has one killer tune and the other has none. 

well the fact remains that Hypocrisy, Go, 21 Guns and Falling are all better than any song on the latest Eclipse or Pretty Maids album. 

IMHO. 

And I am sure that plenty of others would agree with me

The second album is dull as dish water tho. 

[Geoff]

19 hours ago, Glen said:

well the fact remains that Hypocrisy, Go, 21 Guns and Falling are all better than any song on the latest Eclipse or Pretty Maids album. 

IMHO. 

And I am sure that plenty of others would agree with me

The second album is dull as dish water tho. 

I don't love the new Eclipse album (and I also don't think it's bad) but I completely disagree. 

'True Love Awaits You' is probably better than anything on the new Eclipse album, but otherwise I'd say there's at least 5-6 songs on the new Eclipse album that are better than any other Nordic Union song. Not really into any of those you mention there.  

Pretty Maids & Eclipse > Nordic Union, tenfold. 

[Glen]

15 minutes ago, Geoff said:

I don't love the new Eclipse album (and I also don't think it's bad) but I completely disagree. 

'True Love Awaits You' is probably better than anything on the new Eclipse album, but otherwise I'd say there's at least 5-6 songs on the new Eclipse album that are better than any other Nordic Union song. Not really into any of those you mention there.  

Pretty Maids & Eclipse > Nordic Union, tenfold. 

yeah but no one else agrees with you lol....we've had this discussion before. 

And for the record True Love Awaits You is sooooo dull. Jeez that's an instant skip for me. 

[Geoff]

30 minutes ago, Glen said:

yeah but no one else agrees with you lol....we've had this discussion before. 

And for the record True Love Awaits You is sooooo dull. Jeez that's an instant skip for me. 

If the only hook on the album is dull to you, I guess that explains why you like the rest of it.

[CureTheSane]

On 10/15/2019 at 12:00 AM, tts42572 said:

I guess I really don't get the hate for this.  I still like it slightly better than their last album but it's really just Eclipse doing Eclipse.  

Yeah, it's a bit samey.  But for me you can say that about almost every artist after they've been around awhile.  I think it's partly why it's difficult to continually put out great albums.  I mean, most bands have 2 or 3 peak albums and then seem to lose some luster and excitement.  I do think it's definitely a problem for Erik being in so many projects as he's used up a bunch of ideas on W.e.t and Nordic Union that would've made great Eclipse tunes.  And we've gotten a bit over saturated on his style.

I still like it for what it is.  Maybe for me I'm not as worn out on Eclipse yet as some others as I was a little late getting into them.  

For me, still way better than most of what has come out this year.

As for being samey, it's up to the band to vary what they are doing a bit to hold interest.
Song order also plays a part.
Some bands do it more than others. eg: Revolution Saints. Not sure if it;'s the productions, vocals, or whatever, but the music is very samey.
Other bands like Ratt, or While Lion, are defined by their distinct vocals. WASP as well, although Blackie is able to change it up and down a but somehow.
Others like TS have distinct vocals, but the music varies anough that there is variety. Same with Maiden
In fact Maiden are the perfect example.
Compare Sun And Steel to Aces High to Rime Of The Ancent Mariner to Wasted Years to Revelations. Huge variety and difference over 3 consecutive albums, but also within each album.

[CureTheSane]

On 11/17/2019 at 5:41 AM, lettard said:

Yeah they don't really resemble the others at all or indeed how the band now sounds.

I'm listening to Second to None for the second time and I hgave to say I'm loving it.

Seems to be not very much liked here, but so far the standouts are

Always Standing
All I Do
Second To None
Light Of Day
Masterpiece Girl

[Stefan]

New video for 'Delirious'.

 

 

[Geoff]

Killer tune, but a pretty shit clip if truth be told. 

I feel a bit sorry for this band/album. They've released a good product which has been pretty harshly assessed based on it not meeting some very high expectations. But there's still some awesome stuff on this thing. 

[The Rocker]

1 hour ago, Geoff said:

Killer tune, but a pretty shit clip if truth be told. 

I feel a bit sorry for this band/album. They've released a good product which has been pretty harshly assessed based on it not meeting some very high expectations. But there's still some awesome stuff on this thing. 

Agree. top 3 album for 2019 for me.

[lettard]

Yeah should be a definite top 5 for me   

Edited December 14, 2019 by lettard

[tts42572]

On 12/14/2019 at 6:52 AM, Geoff said:

Killer tune, but a pretty shit clip if truth be told. 

I feel a bit sorry for this band/album. They've released a good product which has been pretty harshly assessed based on it not meeting some very high expectations. But there's still some awesome stuff on this thing. 

 

Feel the same.  If this were a brand new band and a debut album, we'd probably be salivating.

I do get it....I wish they'd push their boundaries a bit more.  I think Erik has the kind of voice that always sorta sounds the same so they really need to get creative with song structures, riffs, hooks, harmonies, etc in order to change things up.

Still pretty good and I have it slotted in my #4 spot in this fairly down year for my tastes.

[Glen]

the problem with Delirious is yes it is a great song ( best song on the album by far) but the riff it almost identical to at least 5 other songs they already recorded.

they are just ripping themselves off at this point.

My other issue is that the subject matter on a lot of the songs is more dodgy this time around. 

it will still prob make my top 10 (maybe) but only because it's been a weak year

[Geoff]

13 hours ago, Glen said:

the problem with Delirious is yes it is a great song ( best song on the album by far) but the riff it almost identical to at least 5 other songs they already recorded.

they are just ripping themselves off at this point.

My other issue is that the subject matter on a lot of the songs is more dodgy this time around. 

it will still prob make my top 10 (maybe) but only because it's been a weak year

Yeah, I think that's kind of my point. It's still good shit... there's just a few "buts" along the way. Don't get me wrong, I'm on board with all the things I'd love to see from them going into the future, but if you looked at the album as a single entity and not part of a discography, no doubt it'd look a little better. I do agree about those lyrics though... 

[Invisible_man]

On 12/16/2019 at 2:09 PM, Glen said:

the problem with Delirious is yes it is a great song ( best song on the album by far) but the riff it almost identical to at least 5 other songs they already recorded.

they are just ripping themselves off at this point.

so what, better to build on a great melody hook than create a new forgettable one...

heh heh for some reason listening to United  makes me think of D'artagnan and the Three Musketeers, all for one one for all. If they were to make yet another remake, that would be a good tune to use

Edited December 22, 2019 by Invisible_man