From Sweden, Eclipse is based around founding members Erik Mårtensson [vocals, guitar] and Magnus Henriksson [lead guitar], and after a few line up changes, currently include Philip Crusner [drums] and Victor Crusner [bass]. Viva La Victouria [clever] is the band’s first live album to top off their first decade.

The band’s latest studio album – Paradigm, from last year was my introduction to these guys, one of my favorite hard-rock discs of 2019, which saw plenty of play in the car CD player! A solid album, full of energetic hard-rockers, and melodies, with an ’80s influence, and a number of stand-out rockers like “Viva La Victoria’, “Mary Leigh”, “Blood Wants Blood” and “Delirious” — all of which feature in this live set. A few other Paradigm songs are here as well, notably “United”, “Shelter Me”, and ballad “Take Me Home”. The rest of the band’s live set draws material from their previous 6 albums [7 studio albums in a decade – pretty impressive nowadays!]. Frankly, I’ve still got a lot to catch up on with the band’s catalogue, but their older albums seem damn hard to find, and fetch ridiculous prices on Discogs. [Someone needs to reissue them]. Am looking foward to the 3 LP [red, white & blue vinyl] box set. I love live albums like this; great performances and sound, loads of energy from the band and crowd, and [for anyone not familiar] – a brilliant document of Eclipse after 10 years. Viva La Victouria is loaded with more than just the show in Gothenburg, from December of last year. Due out November 6 on Frontiers – CD, LP, DVD, Blue-Ray.

*Bonus material on the CD and LP versions include the studio track “Driving One Of Your Cars” (a Lisa Miskovsky cover), acoustic versions of ‘The Downfall Of Eden’ and “When The Winter Ends’, as well as three live tracks from the band’s Live from the Quarantine pay-per-view special, which was recorded at Studio Grondahl in Stockholm, Sweden on April 1, 2010. The LP version also includes the exclusive bonus tracks ‘Hurt’ and ‘Mary Leigh’.

*Bonus footage on the DVD and Blu-ray will feature interviews with the band around the creation of Paradigm and Viva La VicTOURia, additional footage from the Paradigm Tour (backstage, tour bus, behind the scenes, etc.), and some interviews with the band around the development of Eclipse, from the early days up until now, including some historic footage will be included.

Tracklist:

Viva La Victoria
Mary Leigh
Blood Wants Blood The Storm
Vertigo
Jaded
Shelter Me
United
The Downfall Of Eden
When The Winter Ends
Take Me Home
Battlegrounds

Black Rain
Blood Enemies
Stand On Your Feet
Runaways
I Don’t Wanna Say I’m Sorry
Never Look Back
Driving One Of Your Cars (Studio Version)
The Downfall Of Eden (Acoustic Version)
When The Winter Ends (Acoustic Version)
Battlegrounds (Quarantine Live)
Driving One Of Your Cars (Quarantine Live)
Delirious (Quarantine Live)

KJJ, 10/20