Journey
Eclipse

July 2011
Released: 2011, Frontiers Records
Rating: 1.5/5
Reviewer: Metal-Rules.com UK Team

After basically loosing most of their credibility in the rock and metal world, for letting such a shitty TV program cover such a great song, Journey should have tried to hook back its fan base with an amazing record with their new singer Arnel Pineda. Unfortunately Journey’s 14th studio album the very disappointing Eclipse, just doesn’t cut it as rallying call back to the Journey army. With appalling attempts at trying to capture that catchy Journey sound once again, Eclipse could possibly be the worst comeback album by a rock band ever.



There is not one track on Eclipse that could ever be up in the big league like huge journey anthems such as: ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ and ‘Whose Crying Now’. Previous releases from the so called influential AOR band have given listeners at least four or five really good, with some verging on amazing tracks to listen to, but with Eclipse the level of catchiness is poor to say the least. Tracks like ‘Chain of the Moment’, ‘She’s a Mystery’ and ‘To Whom it may Concern’ are all extremely dull. The musicianship is basic, sounding like a five year old has just picked up a guitar and twanged away on it, and the songs are not memorable in the slightest, contradicting everything that past Journey albums have been about.



As good as Arnel Pineda’s voice is. It is nowhere near in the same league as previous Journey vocalists like Steve Augeri and Steve Perry. While the new kid has to be congratulated for his spirit and youthfulness he adds to the music, he doesn’t have the power and style that previous singers have brought to the Journey cooking pot. Sure, he may be the only thing interesting and new in this packet of out to date prunes – but Arnel needs to work on his vocals to make sure he is performing to the best of his ability.



Seriously there is only one good moment on the album and that is with the track ‘City of Hope’. But, it isn’t the musicianship that is good about this track; it is how well the lyrics have been written. When you get lyrics like:

“There's a city of hope beyond our fears, Where miracles happen, Where truth can be heard, don’t you want to go to the city of hope. Founded on faith, connecting us all, a network of love to answer the call, yeah, that's where I am from, the city of hope” Sung to the dum dum dum tune of the bass, it gets you thinking, why the fuck did Journey not write the rest of the album like this.



Eclipse is the nail of the coffin for Journey, with a career that has lasted for so long, to be ruined by such a terrible record is appalling, and the once amazing band, should be disappointed that there is no city of hope for them!



Review by Matthew Seddon