ECLIPSE

Unfortunately, Andre Paiement, one of the founders, key song-writers, and vocalists of this musical collective passed away after the second album, leaving the band in a state just as they were getting some attention. They chose to continue on, with the rest of the band picking up more of the song-writing duties. Given these circumstances, their third album, 'Eclipse', is pretty decent. Four of the seven songs here ("Ryshnychok/Earth Mother", "Cirque de la Nuit", "Moon Lament", and the closer "Bienvenue 1984") are excellent, and would fit right in on their first and second albums. However, unfortunately, the album does not get off to a good start with the opener "Soleil Mon Chef", in which one of the male vocalists attempts humour but it falls very flat (a similar problem is found on 'Rumrunner's Runaway"). The songs are generally shorter (although "Bienvenue 1984" is around 8 minutes), and slightly more rock-y than their earlier albums, although the style changes sufficiently from song to song that the album maintains sufficient continuity of their sound with their previous works. I give this album 6.2 out of 10 on my 10-point scale, which is on the low end of the 3-PA star range (but still better than 2 stars).