Band : Journey
Album title : Ec1ipse
Label : Frontiers Records
Distributor : Rough Trade Benelux.
Release Date : 20/05/2011
Release : CD

With this album ‘Eclipse’ Journey have released their 14th studio album, and already their second with You Tube discovery Arnel Pineda.  I hadn’t heard the previous album with Pineda behind the mike, because I thought it would be impossible to replace Steve Perry, and wasn’t prepared to listen to a poor copy of the old Journey.  To be honest, I completely forgot about Journey once Steve was no longer in the band, despite them trying out different, also very capable singers like Jeff Scott Soto or Steve Augeri, and anyway they didn’t record a studio album with them.

But I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Upon hearing the first song I was immediately thinking back to the old Steve Perry days.  Arnel’s voice, although not being 100 % a clone of Steve’s, is the next bet thing you can find.  He also has a rather nasal sound, but which fits like a glove to the music Journey produce.

This album does not open new paths for Journey, that has to be said.  They could just as easily have released this album 10 or 20 years ago, since the style of music is exactly the same.  But is that a bad thing ?  If you can keep on scoring with the same trademark music, why change it.  As a matter of fact, just to cite a few other bands, have Iron Maiden or Motörhead had much success when they left their traditional style?
However, I do find this album sounds a tad heavier than what we were used to by Journey.  The keyboards are there, but more on the background, at least that’s what I think of it, while the guitars are more on the foreground. I’m sure this album will be liked by all real AOR/hard rock lovers.  At least it will feature high in my list of favorite albums released in 2011.  Oh, and I think I’ll go looking for a copy of the ‘Revelation’ album.

97/100

Erik Morren.