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'Grind, Suffer, Dreams'
(Metal Scrap productions)
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MARK: 76/100
"Penetration" immediately reminds of Cannibal Corpse and Deeds of Flesh, sustaining itself on drums that sound like blows from stones, whereas "Lunacy" has drums and bass insertions in the vein of Deeds of Flesh, while the slow crushing guitar isn't far from Devourment; what differs from the other bands is the capacity of urging slamdancing thanks to a more Thrashy approach; listen to the second part of the song and you'll feel an urgent need of headbanging and playing your air guitar or drums.
With "Fear" things don't change very much if not for a Morbid Angelesque axe solo, and "Defloration of Subconsciousness" doesn't add much, although pleasant is the drum bulldozer assault solo and the guitar plot as well. I can appreciate Eclipse's songwriting cohesion, but this hinders the final result a little.
Luckily "Slaves of the Myth" shows an excellent guitar progression and riffs perfectly matched with the drumwork, this time not only limited to a Cannibal Corpse hyperblast.
"Retribution" is a complete song, in that every member gives their best contribution; even the vocals aren't only growls but they are also based on Kataklysm's screams, while the Slayer Death metal old school goes hand in hand with Deeds of Flesh.
"Terror from Inside" is still a traditional song with accelerations and blasts of the second generation of US Death metal, yet also pays unvoluntary homage to Demented Ted.
Erupting like a volcano, rife with great drums and bass lines comes my favourite track, "Cult of Immolation"; yeah, once again the spectre of Cannibal Corpse and the likes hovers, but it is a composition with mysterious charisma, at least during its first 3 quarters.
"Drugdreams", the closing track, not only is the longest and therefore reserves many surprises, but also contains a stop preceding a riff whose approach shortly makes me think of Jungle Rot. It is probably the most recent link to the new branches of Death metal and I don't say this is a good or a bad thing, it is just an informative statement.
Even more brutal and rawer are the 3 bonus tracks, which are taken from an early 2004 rehearsal session. These well-performed cover versions, Cannibal Corpse's "Shredded Humans", Morbid Angel's "Rapture" and Slayer's "Mandatory Suicide", assume a very dark and horrorific perspective because of the drum machine sounds, the zombie vocals and the ripping rotten guitar, all together placing the Ukrainians on the right side of Mortician; the Slayer cover is closer to Six Feet Under, indeed, and that kicks ass, too!
I am not keen more on the old or the new band's path, but it is sure that it seems to be listening to two different acts, and I am convinced it was a successful idea to display their old style, so that everybody may have the opportunity of realizing their evolution and their old and new influences.
"Grind, Suffer, Dreams" is a dive into a kind of Death metal that not many are still interested in playing nowadays, thus it is delightful to rediscover these structures once in a while through new songs (and lyrics and artworks, as well as the fine two artworks on both sides of the CD) like the new here included.
We only have to hope Eclipse won't be on a hiatus or split again, but if we need to wait another ten years for an album this good (though devoid of any innovations), then the wait will be worth!
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Line-up on this record:
Vitaly Nevedrov - guitars
Alexander Tonkoshkur- drums
Andrey Danko- bass guitar
Vladimir Deyev - vocals
Contacts:
Alchevsk, Lugansk- Ukraine
E-mail: astoa@matrix.lg.ua
Official site:
http://metalscrap.org.ua/en/
Demo-/Disco-graphy:
-Celebration of My Death (demo - 1997)
-Grind, Suffer, Dreams ( CD - 2009)
