First to be honest, I will put it out in the open and say that I dislike Hard Rock. You can thank AEROSMITH, BON JOVI and bands similar to them for creating this animosity in me. Therefore when Lucifer came and told me to review a Hard Rock album I was thinking of declining his request. However, after all, Lucifer doesn't request... he Commands!

Nevertheless if you look at the roots of Hard Rock they were divine. Bands like DEEP PURPLE and LED ZEPPELIN are considered Hard Rock and they are great, amazing and creative. Along the way something happened and we were stuck with bands like AEROSMITH where you can barely hear the distortion in their guitars and they dare to call themselves Hard Rock. Thank god for Glenn Hughes for keeping the flame burning throughout the years. Let's also not forget the rather new BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION, a true Hard Rock Masterpiece that came to life in 2010 and brought a beacon of light to this dying genre. With all said, I'm happy to announce the return of true, good and hard kicking Hard Rock in the form of the Band ECLIPSE and their new album "Bleed and Scream". Founded in Sweden in 2008, this is their second album and does deliver! Just for the sake of science I got to say that this is not a pure Hard Rock album, it's more Hard Rock meets American Glam Metal, and that's just Fine by me.

The album kick started (my heart) with "Wake Me Up" and what a surprise, I was awake and not just for this song. It's like being kicked in the face first thing in the morning. From start to finish ECLIPSE fired up all the guns with very catchy riffs and amazing rhythms, something that is an overall characteristicof the entire album apparently.

"Bleed and Scream", the title song, will probably make you bleed and scream to one of the catchiest choruses I have ever heard. Fuck, I started to sing along with Erik Mårtensson, the lead singer till I got a boot in the face from a co-worker, as  I said you will bleed and scream, like I did. Again there were great riffs and rhythm in addition to the great keyboard sound that adds an atmospheric sound to the great guitar and drums mix. The best song in the album for me was "Ain't Dead Yet", with MOTLEY CRUE type of riffs and banging drums. It's a keeper, yet again great job by Mårtensson that shows a broad vocal range with soaring screams and a deep voice when needed.

Like in any Heavy Metal andor Hard Rock albums you have Hard Rock / Metal ballads, some say that it's the best thing of these genres and I say crap! If we can put a man on the moon why can't we put all people that think Metal ballads are the best thing in Metal, on the moon too, so we can stay here just the reasonable people that like Metal in its purest form. So without further ado, ECLIPSE does have ballads in their album according to the rules of the genre, on "Bleed and Scream"  there are two of the kind, "Bitter Taste", a straightup ballad, no shit, with distortion sequence and riffs like they should be and mellow ending like all Hard Rock ballades ends, ECLIPSE definitely kept the rules in this one! The second ballad "About To Break" has more of a southern flavor kind of CINDERELLA style (I said American Glam Metal influences didn't I ?). In overall the ballads are ok, but they are not the story here. It's the rest of the songs on the album that provide its magnitude.

Like always there are honorable mentions and this time it goes to "S.O.S" that started out with a keyboard in the vein of KING DIAMOND, followed by an earth shaking riff. This song also has a very nice solo section that reminded me of the great EUROPE lead shredder, John Norum, and that is a compliment. After all they come from the same country. In addition "After The End Of The World" is a great song with all the above, it seems that the band did strike a nerve in the Hard Rock meeting American Glam Metal genre.

After all the abuse I had to endure listening to "Bleed and Scream" I have to say that It wasn't the torment I expected it to be, it was even nice. ECLIPSE raised the bar for what I call new wave of Hard Rock (and you can quote me on that) that along with influences from classic European Metal bands and American Glam Metal make "Bleed And Scream" a very good album for easy Metal fans. Furthermore I think that every Metal fan should have a good non-brutal album in his magazine and "Bleed And Scream" is a really good option.