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ECLIPSE

Symphonic Prog • Brazil


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Eclipse biography
This Brazilian outfit began as a Pink Floyd Cover band, in the mid '90s. By the turn of the century, they began to compose their own material.

Classic prog bands proved to remain important, as they wrote tributes to E.L.P., Gentle Giant, and (of course) Pink Floyd. Recordings exist of these tributes, but there are none from the cover days.

In 2003 they released their first original album, "Jumping from Springboards." For this effort, help was enlisted from musician Zé Mendez, on flute and sax. It is a highly regarded album, and influences are abundant.

There are comparisons to Yes, Van Der Graaf Generator, Camel, Hatfield and the North, Genesis, Marillion, and even Mike Oldfield. Aloisio Campelo Jr shows traits of Steve Howe, but stretches out on midi. Paulo Torres seems to be a big Chris Squire fan. Patricia Dechamps' vocals evoke memories of Amanda Parsons.

Since that time not much has been heard from the band. However, there are hint's of some activity. We can only wait and see.

H.T. Riekels (Bhikkhu)

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3.94 | 36 ratings
Jumping from Springboards
2003

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ECLIPSE Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Jumping from Springboards by ECLIPSE album cover Studio Album, 2003
3.94 | 36 ratings

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Jumping from Springboards
Eclipse Symphonic Prog

Review by Matti
Prog Reviewer

4 stars The Brazilian group Eclipse started in the mid-90's as a Pink Floyd tribute band. This sole album has been reviewed here only three times; 13 years since the latest review, so it's about time to give it exposure again. The band name with its Dark Side of the Moon reference really isn't the most original. In ProgArchives there's also a Canadian Eclipse from the 70's, expectedly inspired by Floyd.

Anyway, the happy news is that this symphonic and rather retro-sounding prog is a LOT more diverse and exciting than the average -- and, in the end, pretty common -- Floyd-influenced neo prog. In fact, the whole Floyd connection becomes completely insignificant concerning this album. The 11-minute opener 'Urban Hermit' alone is very fascinating and offers associations to several classic prog bands without actually sounding very closely like any of them. The symphonic structure has some YES, some CAMEL, some GENESIS (all in their prog prime), and the combination of mellotron sounds, flute and acoustic guitar may also bring the mellower parts of the King Crimson debut in mind. The guitarist Aloísio Campelo is rather mediocre as a vocalist, but he nicely reminds me a bit of Stanley Whitaker of HAPPY THE MAN, another useful comparison to the music as well. A lovely additional ingredient is the bright female voice of Patricia Deschamps, mostly used in a vocalise style here. The lengthy instrumental section near the end is gorgeous with all the soaring melodies and a Camel styled electric guitar solo. Wow!

'Inca's Revenge' (5:46) is basically an instrumental featuring Patricia's beautiful wordless vocals here and there. Both the bass and the electric guitar have a certain Yes stamp on them, but not too openly. The fast and powerful melody patterns also have a slight RUSH feel. The beginning of the album's title track (8:30) sonically makes me think of The Yes Album's 'Perpetual Change' especially for the guitar riff, but the short synth solo that soon follows is pure Rick Wakeman. This song, happily entirely sung by Patricia, has some Canterbury-like jazz nuances. 'Mantiqueira' is a lively jazz-rock instrumental with the female voice again as an additional instrument. Good, but not among my favourites. 'Puzzles' is a slower and bluesier song with male vocals.

'Manic Waltz' is so quirky little instrumental that GENTLE GIANT must be mentioned too. Perhaps the charm wears a bit towards the end of the album. The final instrumental piece 'Ritual' is rooted on a stomping rhythm (associated to the Apocalypse part of 'Supper's ready' and the similar section in Marillion's 'Grendel') over which guitar, sax and keys build steamy layers that aren't quite interesting enough to lift the piece from being a boring filler. For its best moments -- and there are lots of them, not just the fantastic opener -- this album would be a five-star gem, but I follow the concensus of the former reviewers and stick to four stars. Wish there were more flute -- from the guest musician Zé Mendes -- and a bit better male vocalist; though I also would have been perfectly happy if Patricia had handled all the vocals. Sadly the band never made another album.

 Jumping from Springboards by ECLIPSE album cover Studio Album, 2003
3.94 | 36 ratings

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Jumping from Springboards
Eclipse Symphonic Prog

Review by tszirmay
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars This is a rather unexpected surprise from Brazil, getting my attention in light of the distant (aka non- instrumental) presence of Tempus Fugit's Andre Mello, a heavenly mixture of dreamy and breezy progressive WITH a strong Brazilian feel , with doses of Canterbury, jazz-rock and symphonic .The expressed comparisons to Bacamarte are quite correct, as there are lots of similarities . "Urban Hermit" is an 11 minute 4-part atmospheric introduction to their sensorial world, a lush Amazon of sounds and effects, assorted acoustic and electric guitars as well as MIDI effected bass clarinet and bandoneon from Aloísio Campelo , substantial doses of flute from both Patricia Deschamps (who croons nicely as well) and guest Zé Mendes. A successful piece of prog music. "Inca's Revenge" is a muscular beauty that showcases some fine Steve Howe meets Carlos Santana guitar stylings, windswept Hatfield & the Northettes vocalizings from Patricia and the monstrous bass of Paulo Torres, who combines Chris Squire brute force with some fretless magic a la Percy Jones. Drummer Sergio Conforti embellishes the tradition of percussion madness peculiar to this nation. The title track has a more synth oriented arrangement, all done on MIDI guitars, with some more soaring vocals and a long adventurous sonic voyage with plenty of exalted flair and gentle passion. "Mantiquera" booms along like a speedy piranha, a tidy little jazzy promenade that effectively keeps the flow glowing. "Puzzles" is a bluesier workout, with some superlative scat singing and a blistering guitar solo from Patricia while the others keep the riverboat on track. The very brief "Manic Waltz" searches out the edgier extremes of progdom, tossing in some dissonance into the psychedelic pot, justifying the title. Bleeding directly into the lyrically interesting "Traffic Jams", the guitar takes on some severe pirouettes, dizzying and squealing when necessary, evoking the choking enigma of the urban nightmare. "Ritual" concludes this rather flourishing exercise, definitely worthy of some future release, with all the ingredients to charm and seduce the prog adventurer. The sole caveat, a first rate male vocalist would greatly enhance this crew's ability to impress. Artwork is first rate. 3.5 anacondas
 Jumping from Springboards by ECLIPSE album cover Studio Album, 2003
3.94 | 36 ratings

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Jumping from Springboards
Eclipse Symphonic Prog

Review by scandosch

4 stars One hell of an album! If you have the chance to hear it, because it's not so easy to find. Well, first of all, it's not the usual neo prog. One can definetly hear the southern influences. Some arrangements reminded me of Santana's Borboletta. Other spots made me think of P.F.M . But this band has his sound, and probably what you hear is more the common ground than a real will of emulation. Oh, and the best Rickenbaker Bass sound I ever heard! To make Chris Squire cry vengence. The only reason why I don't give this album 5 stars, is the vocal parts. Not bad, really, and not so important for the overall album balance, but Eclipse don't have a bright singer, just a "normal" one. It's really a shame that a band like this one is not known at all. Last but not least, one of the best Psygnosys-style covers I ever saw. That's what dragged me to this album, and for cause!
 Jumping from Springboards by ECLIPSE album cover Studio Album, 2003
3.94 | 36 ratings

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Jumping from Springboards
Eclipse Symphonic Prog

Review by hdfisch
Prog Reviewer

4 stars So here we have another Brazilian band with the (not quite spectacular) name ECLIPSE that might lead to the conclusion that we can expect some Floyd-ish sound. But this is not the case at all rather can we listen on "Jumping From Springboards" to some very pleasant modern progressive rock that is really not that much derivative and moreover not similar at all to the usual Retro Prog produced by bands like Glass Hammer, Spock's Beard or Flower Kings which is very welcome at least to me. Reminiscences to seminal bands are absolutely marginal like Squire-ish bass or female vocals that remind to Hatfield & the North. The compositions are highly versatile and are ranging from rather mellow ones to more upbeat but never harsh ones, just very good modern symphonic prog (NOT neo prog) with a dash of jazz-rock here and there. Keyboards are playing a quite subsidiary role what I'd like to add as an advantage (all keyboard freaks will be appalled!) remembering all those newer bands using squeaky synths tunes in a exaggerated manner. The music really does not suffer at all from this since guitarist Aloisio Campelo uses quite often a MIDI-guitar that enables him to emulate instruments like clavinet, bandoneon, trumpet, moog, bells, tuned percussion and - as well - Mellotron. The (often wordless) vocals by Patrícia Deschamps are very pleasant, more than the (occasional) male ones which are not superb but not disturbing or annoying neither. Anyway the instrumental parts are prevailing here and some tracks like "Mantiqueira" for example where the jazz-rock touch is most obvious manage to appeal a lot without any vocals apart from some wordless ones.

Overall I can summarize my fully positive and astounding impression of this album by saying that ECLIPSE is next to INDEX for sure one of best prog bands coming from Brazil nowadays and is absolutely able to provide a quality in their music that comes very close to the one in BACAMARTE's. Moreover it's far away from the usual schmaltzy symphonic prog coming from that area.

Highly recommended to every prog fan looking for something different than the common standards!

Thanks to ProgLucky for the artist addition. and to Ivan_Melgar_M for the last updates

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