Total Eclipse formed in San Francisco, USA, but relocated to Rome, Italy somewhere in time. Perhaps the reason for that was that power metal really isn't/wasn't too popular in USA?

If Total Eclipse were named after that Iron Maiden song, in reality there really is not much in the way of musical similarities between the two. On their debut album 'Ashes of Eden' TE sound both US and European with their power metal. "One of the best and most original bands of the US underground metal scene," reads the hype-sticker on the CD case. Might have been so in early 2000s, but I couldn't call them all that original nowadays, after hearing so much more melodic metal. Here, they offer 52+ minutes of music, which is a lot for a debut album; okay, they might have crammed in everything they had.

One thing that haven't changes during the years is that the music is not very catchy. There is no really catchy choruses and songs' red threads may be hard to find. There are some nice riffs, guitar melodies and soloing, but the vocals just are not able enough for these melodies. At times close to Kai Hansen, even though way, way calmer, there's just no enough upper register in the voice. The songwriting suffers from sticking in too much parts, making it too incoherent here and there, but repeated listens may open them songs. I would call this semi-progressive, actually, as there are fantasy stories in lyrics and the compositions do follow them.

There's not much of double kick drums for a power metal album, by the way. The guitars are what's best on this release, being vivid and varying from heavy and speed metal riffing to acoustic guitars to DragonForce style shredding leads. Some twin guitar harmonies nod towards Iron Maiden, no doubt. 'Tears of the World' isn't bad for a slow song, by the way, nicely places in the middle, but "Jesus Christ Superstar" cover 'Heaven on Their Minds', which is rather nice because of better working vocals and chorus, should have been in the end.

At the heaviest this is somewhere in the class of Helloween's 'Pink Bubbles Go Ape' album (1991), so do not expect much. The production is trebly, without much lower end pumping out of speakers. The drums sound triggered, which give them certain kind of machine vibe, but as they aren't edited, there are some timing mistakes in. Generally, the production is lethargic, making this truly non-majestic, sadly. Another reason for this are basic keyboards, which are bad with their preset sound cheapness. Also, the vocals are too loud in the mix. There are some good performances, but the production prevents them from being signaled all the way to a listener.

Carrying some truly promising bits and bops for sure, but not so much memorable songs (the closer 'Winds of War' is one of such things here), 'Ashes of Eden' is an okay debut album. It's one of those albums that could have easily been so much more if compressed songwriting-wise and with better vocal performance and more punchy production. Worth checking out, though, as others may find these cons insignificant, who knows. And let me tell one more thing: It did open to me during the years; cannot call that an instant hit! If you're looking for metal similar to Abraxas, Crimson Glory and Dungeon, then Total Eclipse could touch your heart.

Rating: 7 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
10/26/2023 15:47