ECLISSE

Eclisse were a band from Teramo Italy which formed in the mid 1990s under the name Babylon, before becoming Eclisse and releasing two very different albums. The first album "Dinamica 1" featured a large 6-piece line-up (that would not last) and tried a harder-edged RPI reinvention than many of the whimsical Italian neo-prog tendencies of the 90s. Dream Theater and Rush were influences as well as the classic RPI bands and Eclisse tried to marry the two with a slightly larger guitar presence than keyboards. The results were mixed, though considering they recorded this in three days I say kudos to them. Their attempts at sophisticated guitar and drums parts did occasionally reveal those influences, but I also heard passages that reminded me of Sunscape, Lorenzo Monni, Braindead, and perhaps Corte Aulica. As those may be fairly obscure references, think Italian bands who were enamored with 90s prog metal, Rush, and Radiohead, with a slightly spacey vibe at times.

"Dinamaca 1" was certainly an ambitious album with songs that feel lovingly crafted and likely embellished from gig experience. The keyboards had a somewhat cheap sound to them but were employed nicely anyway, creating generally moody backgrounds of color, textural more than flashy. The keys provided the palette for the dual guitars which were more to the fore. Several tracks had acoustic or clean electric to go along with the saturated electric leads and rhythms, which were occasionally chunky power chords and riffs bordering on prog metal/hard rock aspiration, but never quite taking that leap to metal. There are some marvelous guitar solos and just plain interesting chord sequences that you begin to notice after a few plays. They drums were similarly ambitious, I felt often shooting for fills that were a bit beyond the drummer's league, frankly. The vocals are decent but not the reason to check out this band. Album highlight "Mostri di Fango" sports what I believe is a simulated pipe organ opening, Three Monks it is not, but I appreciated the dramatic effort all the same. This one really evolves into a smoking jam with all parties pushing hard. A couple of the shorter tracks in the middle of the album switch it up and show off a light yet nimble, sophisticated pop-rock, with perhaps some folk spices as well, adding to the songwriting variety and overall depth.

Eclisse were not perfect. You can hear mistakes, which combined with the budget production may turn off some listeners. But I would encourage modern RPI fans to stick with this album for a while. I've grown to enjoy it as one of the many heartfelt underground bands who never made it big (or even moderately) but are still worth my time. I also love that it is a short 34 minute album---as so many of the classic RPI titles were! Not sure if CDs are still around but you can download from Itunes at present. A shade south of 3 stars but close enough to bump them up.