• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Eclipse is Malmsteen's fifth album and after the great work that was Odyssey, this album departs from the others stylistically. What separates this from his previous works is the mid pace in which the record is played, even though the solos are fast (as expected from Malmsteen). Also the songwriting is sub-par aside from two or three songs; they are either dull or repetitive or have forced choruses. The lack of consistency on this release is staggering. There is a lot of stuff here that you've heard before and not necessarily in Heavy Metal, like the riff on "Bedroom Eyes". Also the beginning of "Judas" sounds like "Queen in Love". "Save our Love" is a horrible ballad that has its moments but I've heard much better ones from Malmsteen.

Not everything here is crap though: "Motherless Child" is one of the greatest songs in Malmsteen's career, and almost worth the price of the record alone. The title song is an instrumental that is on the level of "Black Star". Other songs like "Demon Drive", "See you in Hell (Don't Be Late)" and "Faultline" are good but nothing spectacular. His solos are jaw-dropping and complement the songs very well.

As for the rest of the band, this is not the best lineup that Malmsteen has ever had but it gets the job done for the most part. This leads me to vocalist Goran Edman, who is making his debut with Malmsteen. Being the fourth singer in this band is hard enough, but considering who he has to follow he does an admirable job - he's very good but still pales greatly compared with the previous singers, mainly because his voice is too thin and he lacks the necessary power to make the vocal lines memorable. However when he shows conviction like in "Motherless Child", he sounds awesome - unfortunately that is the only song where he shows this type of ability.

Having achieved a lot of commercial success, Eclipse feels like three steps backwards. Mainly because the pop sensibility that was well balanced in his previous record is turned up ten notches here. There are only two songs that leave you speechless (in a good way) and one of them is an instrumental. This is a below average album and considering that it comes from maybe the best guitarist in the world, it has to be considered as the real first clunker of his career.