METALLIAN - In Eclipse

Penumbral - 2026 - Art Gates

Members

Vocals

Egophobia, Perseverance>>JULYUS RIPPER

Guitar

Amphismind>>IVAN SALVADOR - Morth Wyrtha>>ERIC ALMAN

Bass

PABLO MOLA

Drums

Perseverance>>XAVI REQUENA [XAVIER REQUENA TORRES]

History & Biography

The act was founded in 2018. On Fire Records of Spain released an EP, called Eternal Fall, for the group in 2022. Guitarist Adrian Puerta Criez had already left. The song No Colorfull (sic) Dawn was already released in 2019. The group had first climbed the stage in 2020 as it opened for Vita Imana.

Andorra-based groovy and melodic band In Eclipse joined the Art Gates Records roster in the summer of 2025. An album was due for 2025. The band had a song called Purge in the autumn of 2025. The scene was flooded with everything "cinematic" and the track was described as having a "cinematic atmosphere." Penumbral appeared in the summer of 2026 and was apparently recorded a couple of years earlier. The band's appearance at the Cosmic Void in the UK in 2026 was cancelled when that show was postponed, but a gig at Rockòdrom was still a go.

Reviews

Interviews

There are thousands of bands on the metal scene and a similar number of albums out there. Who cares about one more? After all, not many have heard the name In Eclipse. In fact, it is metaphorically appropriate that one has not heard of the Andorra-based act. Heck, to make the situation even more apt, the album, scheduled for release through Art Gates Records in September, is called Penumbral.
With that said, this band and its debut album deserve attention. Ali "The Metallian" was impressed enough to fly down to Andorra, where he met with three of the band members at their "second home," La Tapeta restaurant and bar. As it turns out, there is another reason to get into In Eclipse. The world's tightest band with the fewest rehearsals is also home to three of the nicest guys around: singer Julyus Ripper and guitarists Ivan Salvador and Eric Alman. - 26.07.2026

METALLIAN: It is good to meet you here. Having heard your debut full-length, I am eager to find out more about In Eclipse.
ERIC: (Points to Ivan and Julyus) Well, they started the band long before I joined them. Before COVID and everything, I think we managed to… try to make our dream to make music come true. You start learning an instrument, you start to listen to bands and you imagine yourself doing the same thing and it becomes your passion. Then one step leads to another.
IVAN: We recorded an EP after COVID and then Eric joined us. We started to compose the new album, called Penumbral, which will be out on September 11th. This is our career. In the past years we composed the album and joined Art Gates Records. We are waiting for the launch of the album.
ERIC: We already put out two video clips and here we are. We were going to play at Cosmic Void, but sadly it got cancelled because of the international situation that is happening.
IVAN: That news came out the past week and the festival in London was cancelled so the next show is Rockòdrom here in Andorra in September where we present the album to the people.

METALLIAN: Before moving on, let's confirm that Ivan and Julyus were the founders.
IVAN: No, Xavi the drummer and I formed the band. Then Julyus joined us and then Pablo the bassist. Then Eric joined us.
JULYUS: The only original members are Ivan and Xavi. Since 2018, we have changed first the bassist, later changed the singer and then changed the guitarist. I think, for the moment, the members are more solid and work hard. We think about the next years with the same ideas.

METALLIAN: To confirm, the band was founded in 2018.
JULYUS: More or less, yes.

METALLIAN: What was the name of the previous singer?
ERIC: The name was Jonathan…
JULYUS: … but he did not record anything and there were no concerts. In the first several months, the band was testing its style and it was not possible to write tracks.
IVAN: You will only find Julyus if you search for an In Eclipse singer on the Internet.

METALLIAN: That's why it is even more interesting to get the names. Are you, or the other members, in any other bands? Listening to your music, it is easy to tell that this isn't your first rodeo.
IVAN: In this band, there are two members who are real musicians. One is Eric and the other is Xavi. In the case of Xavi, his life is the drum. He lives with the drum. He teaches other people to play the drums. Eric was in …
ERIC: Yes, when I was 20 years old I was in Morth Wyrtha. Xavi and I have been teaching music for a long time. Basically, it was our life. We had the luck to spend time with great musicians like Carlos from Persefone, and all the band members from Persefone. Andorra is a small country and you know all the musicians. You can, therefore, grow really quickly if you put the effort in.
JULYUS: My old band featured Xavi on drums. It was called Perseverance. That was 2009.
IVAN: For me it was Amphismind.

METALLIAN: This is good information. I was listening to the new music before I started listening to the EP, which had more electronic or background synthesizers than the new music. So is there a change of direction between the last EP and the full-length?
ERIC: Let's say the last EP was composed a long time ago with another mindset. They, kind of, stopped playing and then I came in. They wanted to explore that style in a more professional way or more the way we want to express ourselves.
When you listen to the new full-length album, which we will release in September, you can see that there are many styles where we are trying to find our sound. We think we finally found it. We are already composing the next one actually and it will be almost what we want.
IVAN: The first EP is an example of friends that start to compose music, but without a clear direction or a clear sense of what kind of style they want. There are many metal styles, but on the album, I think we have clear ideas and that is the difference between the EP and the album.

METALLIAN: The biography from Art Gates says there were a lot of difficulties and delays, starts, stops, in the recording of the new album. What happened?
IVAN: Life happened. We all have full-time jobs, we have families, we have problems and on top of that, you have to compose, record and spend money on marketing.
JULYUS: And other problems that are not directly problems with the members of the band, but, for example, we lost one full-length video we had recorded. We called this business and called and called and he said, 'sorry guys for the video. The full video clip is lost and it's not possible to have everything you need.' We recorded over an entire year for a six or seven-hour recording. The company collaborated with us. We lived together and went to record after our jobs and after ten days, the guy did not respond. After twenty days he says, 'yes, yes, no worries, no worries..' and then it's really complicated. He was really really sorry and tried hard to recover everything, but he couldn't. He could only offer to record from scratch again. We needed to book the place again. We needed to get holidays again. We needed to record again. The government said the venue was full for another month or two. We couldn't! There are other problems that we could not control. It's a sad coincidence. Yes, for these two or three months there were many bad coincidences.
IVAN: Yes, all the problems that you can suffer in the launch of an album, we suffered. The last video clip was lost, the recording session was postponed… a lot of problems.

METALLIAN: You refer to the government. Was it a public venue?
ERIC: No, not a public venue. The government helped us with the place we were recommended.
JULYUS: Yeah, the government helps for culture, you know, they help bands or artists. We present the project, demonstrate the product exists and they offer a little help with sites or money and all that.

METALLIAN: Eric, you mentioned earlier about everyone having full-time jobs. Is everyone in the band Andorran?
ERIC: (Shaking his head) We are a little bit of everything. (Points to Ivan) Spain, (points to Julyus) two Andorrans, one Argentinian and I am French.

METALLIAN: What I know about Andorra is that the country is run by a bishop.
ERIC: Not completely, almost there. It's an old story. This started when the government was formed and Andorra became a real country. They made agreements with France and with Spain. Then the representative from the Spain side is the bishop. He is in the town next to Andorra in Spain.

METALLIAN: And for our American readers, who don't know, Andorra is between France and Spain. Are the wildfires near you?
ERIC: No. We don't have fires here.

METALLIAN: So how did you find Art Gates Records?
ERIC: I'm not the best one to answer this, but it was from knowing people. We know Borja from, what's his band's name? Erm…well, we know Carlos from Persefone and he kind of adopted us and he proposed we send samples to record companies. Art Gates liked it and we signed a contract with them.
IVAN: We think that we have good material in order to try to make the project more professional. We looked for professional help to expose the music and our material further. This is the reason we contacted Art Gates.

METALLIAN: I understand the name of the album and its connection to your band name, but there is no song with that name.
ERIC: Penumbral is a phase of the eclipse. It's the first phase. Basically, we talk a lot about inner self and outer self. You know, the eclipse is kind of a mask we put on. When an eclipse happens, your inner self… you have to listen to the album and read the lyrics and it will make sense.

METALLIAN: Is it a concept?
ERIC: Yeah, kind of, kind of, maybe. We talk a lot about inner darkness.

METALLIAN: I will ask your alien friend here about it (there is a figure of an alien standing next to them).
IVAN: Yes, he's a little bit shy (everybody is laughing)!

METALLIAN: What really surprised me, putting the compositions and songs aside for one moment, was the sound. How did you get the sound? The drums are heavy. It's not a light pots-and-pans sound. Some drummers sound like they are playing in the kitchen, but you guys have the perfect sound. Do you agree? Maybe you think I'm wrong.
ERIC: We are kind of pleased with the sound. It sounds really, really great. As I told you before, we are very lucky. There are really good musicians in this little country and with good musicians come really good producers too. The drums, for example, we recorded with Marc Mas at Ivolution Studio. He has a really great studio there. And after that, we recorded with Carlos (of Persefone) for the guitar and with Mo, the keyboardist of Persefone who has a studio at his home, and Julyus recorded there. We sent everything to Pere Revert who's a really good sound engineer from Andorra for mixing and mastering. He has his Sonnos Studio where he makes music for video games, for shows and more. We asked him and we paid him, obviously, and that's the final result. It's amazing. I agree. We weren't expecting such good results!

METALLIAN: The sound is tight. How often do you practice?
IVAN: (They all burst into laughter at this point) No, really, really, no, yeah, it's been like, I don't know, five months that we didn't rehearse.

METALLIAN: What about before the album?
ERIC: Before recording? None? Maybe once or twice? The way we work is we compose individually, then we play ourselves. We don't play it as a full band like it was a show. We only record, record and, if we don't like it, we re-record everything and then when we have everything we rehearse. We practise individually so we almost never rehearse.
It is easy to sound tight on an album when you practice with a metronome. The hard part is sounding so tight at a show, right? So when we, when you listen to us live, we can have a conversation again (they all start laughing and Julyus points a pretend gun at Eric's head).
IVAN: Don't say that (still laughing)!

METALLIAN: Julyus, how many vocal channels are there? One hears multiple vocal tracks.
JULYUS: I don't know! There is one constantly, there is another for a chorus, two for the highs and lows and maybe another for the scream. So there are four in total, but there is one vocal track throughout. It's not a double or triple voice continually.

METALLIAN: There's no bassist here, but the bass is also very present. Anthem Of Dissent, for example, has that amazing bass sound. A few words about the bass please.
ERIC: Yeah, sure. We wanted to… to really give a voice to the bass because, we think, that with modern bands the bass is not that important. It's just there for reinforcing the guitar, the rhythm guitar. There is something special about old music. The bass is really present. You can tell this is the bass, you know? We wanted that sound to be ours. It's even more present with the new songs we are composing now! So the bassist is… he never practices, but he's really talented.

METALLIAN: He never practices…
IVAN: He's a guitarist!
ERIC: Yes, he composes with guitar, then with bass.

METALLIAN: Is he currently a guitarist in another band?
ERIC: No, not at the moment. He's only with In Eclipse.

METALLIAN: What do you think about the many people who are in many bands? The new state of music, metal scene, is 'I'm in six bands,' 'he's in eight bands,' 'he's in 9 bands' and being in twelve bands is considered completely normal. I don't even know how they find the time. But what do you think?
ERIC: We used to do that too, yeah, but we find that when you give that project the seriousness it deserves, because this is not easy at all, then you have to focus 100% on one project, I think, and that with work, it's impossible to have more than one. You end up crazy, completely crazy. If your effort is going to fragment between other bands and other projects, I think you cannot give your 100% to any of them. So yeah, maybe they are lucky. They have nothing else to do beside music; that's not our case. So I think you should focus on one, maybe two. But it's not something viable.
IVAN: For us, for the three of us, we don't have time to have other bands. But, for example, if you talk with Xavi, with the drummer, Xavi has four or five bands. He is a professional drummer and has the time. He's not like me. I am a guitarist, but I'm not a professional guitarist. Xavi is a professional drummer, so for him it's easier to find time or connect to other projects. It's easier to make music for him, but for us, we don't have time, and for me, I don't have time for other bands.
ERIC: We barely have time for In Eclipse.
JULYUS: Maybe it's worse in metal. It's very expensive. If you want to reach a concrete level, a concrete quality of sound, you know, for this you need more money. For example, when you pay, I don't know, 5000 Euros or you pay 2000 Euros for recording an album, then it is expensive. The same for video clips. So, if I have three bands, you really have to think how much money you have for the bands, especially if you want a high quality for all the bands.

METALLIAN: What Ivan is saying makes sense. If the drummer, for example, is professional and that's what you do then that's one thing. What I don't understand is people who are in 10 bands or whatever, five bands, doesn't matter, and some of these bands are in the same style. So this person is in five bands, three of the bands are black metal and they sound similar.
ERIC: Yeah, that's true. I think you should segment. If you have four bands that sound the same, why not put the effort in one and sound amazing, you know?

METALLIAN: I like the music that I hear. Yet, now, I want to talk about two negative items.
IVAN: Only two? We are lucky.

METALLIAN: So one of them was the solos, and I don't know who's playing (Ivan points to Eric)... The solos are really good. These are not noise solos. These are melodic quality solos, for example on Bloodstained. The lead is great, but it's too short. Why are these solos so short and why aren't there more?
IVAN: (Jokingly) He didn't want to work on that day.
ERIC: (Pondering) Maybe the solos are too short. Yeah, that's true. But as we said before, you have time to do what you have time to do. So we were in a hurry to record the album, even if afterwards we lost time doing other things and got delayed because of the video clip and everything. But once it's recorded, it's done. So we got a tight deadline and I wasn't in my best shape, I have to admit it, so I did what I could do. But thank you for the compliment. I will try to do, I don't know, five-minute solos next time (laughs).
IVAN: No, but no; this is an argument between us, because we really don't want a large number of solos in the tracks, but when this motherfucker (points to Eric) starts to play the solos, you listen and you say, 'well, this is really fucking good.' So at that point, you leave him, to make longer solos. But, when we compose the songs, we really don't want big solos and maybe this happened with Bloodstained.
ERIC: The industry now doesn't demand big solos either. So if you do a three-minute solo, people will stop listening. And maybe because the style that we are looking to do doesn't have these big solos… no? And this is the reason that we try to make the solos shorter.

METALLIAN: I don't know about the industry. I believe you when you say that. I also believe you when you say that you debated internally. Yet, for me, the distinction is, whether the solo is good or not.
ERIC: I will think about you the next time I compose (they all laugh).

METALLIAN: Thank-you very much.
ERIC: You are welcome.

METALLIAN: The second thing that I wasn't interested in is the Depeche Mode cover version. Not only is it pop music, but I also don't understand why there are so many cover versions.
JULYUS: (Points at Ivan) This guy is the reason.
IVAN: This is my fault. I am a huge fan of Depeche Mode and, for me, it was a dream in the past several years to make a cover version and especially of this song. Because the first time that I heard that song I loved it. I love the music and I love the song. I've never been with a person who could help me to 'compose' it, but I met this guy (reaches out and slaps Eric on the back) and he made it possible.
Then the other reason is that no one expects a band like In Eclipse to make a cover of Depeche Mode.
JULYUS: I remember when we spoke about maybe creating a version of the song, or a metal version if you will, I don't like it because the special and the good song is the original song. A few weeks passed and this nice guy (points at Ivan) says I need to sing a cover of Depeche Mode's Wrong.
IVAN: (looks at me) You are not doing me a big favour with that (Eric and Julyus begin to laugh)!

METALLIAN: With what?
IVAN: Saying what you just said about Depeche Mode!

METALLIAN: Oh, I am dividing the band! With that said, and as much as I am against this cover version, or all cover versions, I recognize that you are an artist and artists should do what they want. That is clear. For me, covers are redundant. Another band just covered the same song. Several groups just did pop cover version albums. Finnish bands have been spewing these covers for years, etcetera etcetera. And yes, I don't like Depeche Mode, but the bigger question was 'why is everyone doing these covers?'
ERIC: It just happened casually, nothing major.

METALLIAN: What is next? The album is coming out in September. Are there tours, concerts or any plans?
IVAN: We booked dates and we want to launch the album through them. The UK got cancelled, but we have two dates in November. We are working on a tour of Europe for February, 10 or 15 dates… and we are composing new songs to try to make a new EP.

METALLIAN: Where are those dates in Europe?
IVAN: We are going to Mallorca in October and Barcelona in November. In December, maybe, we are not going to do anything. We are working to make those European dates happen for January or February.

METALLIAN: Do you have a booking agent?
IVAN: Yes, something like that. We know a guy that has many contacts and made European tours for other bands. We are friends and he wants to help us to do the tour and we are working together now.

METALLIAN: I am learning more about In Eclipse, alongside our readers, and given that, is there anything I should have asked, that I didn't know to ask, or anything you wish to add?
ERIC: Actually, I'm surprised since your questions were perfect. This is the best interview we've done until now. So yeah, no. It's true. I don't think there is anything more to add.
IVAN: We appreciate everything that you said.
JULYUS: Thank-you very much!

METALLIAN: Before we end this conversation, let's find out why you believe Metallian is the best website in the world.
ERIC: Oh, it's very easy. That's because you ask the better questions from the better bands.

The line-up is completed by bassist Pablo Mola and drummer Xavi Requena. More information on the band can be found here or here.

If you enjoyed this, read [IN MUTE]

In Eclipse