Album Review: Journey - Eclipse

Journey - Eclipse

It would be fair to say that Journey have experienced something of a revival in recent years. Their number 62 hit from 1981, Don't Stop Believin' has been omnipresent over the last year or two thanks both to its reworking by the cast of Glee and its general radio airplay.

Considering Don't Stop Believin' was thirty years go, not much has changed for Journey based on the evidence of their brand new album, Eclipse. It's exactly as you imagine it might be, if not more overblown and air guitar-y then you might expect. It's a collection of soaring power ballads and American soft rock that sounds like any other Boston/Chicago/REO Speedwagon record ever made. I mean, you only have to look at the song titles to get an indication of the content: City of Hope, Edge of the Moment, Chain of Love - I could go on.

With screaming guitar solos at every turn and anthemic 'lighter in the air' choruses all you have to do is close your eyes to imagine a lank haired guitarist on his knees with his face contorted as he pulls off yet another riff. Sadly, however, Eclipse just isn't very good. If someone had told you that this album was recorded in 1978 you wouldn't have batted an eyelid (except, maybe for the fact that original vocalist Steve Perry is long gone).

It's music for a bygone era and whilst it's entertaining enough, it's just far too earnest (the wife thought it was Christian rock, for heaven's sake) to be taken terribly seriously.