TOTAL ECLIPSE -

TOTAL ECLIPSE - ASHES OF EDEN - LIMB
Featuring songs from their 1999 demo, Ashes Of Eden is the official debut of the American quintet Total Eclipse. They are from the San Francisco Bay Area, but stay away from thrash metal and focus on delivering solid, epic and melodic metal. The band has received good treatment from the hands of producer Uwe Lulis (Grave Digger, etc.), something which allows its knack for melody to shine through. This, without distracting from the group's overall heavy approach. The band's singer is an Italian expatriate which means that Total Eclipse has the process in reverse order from the customary. After all, non-anglophone bands usually go after a singer who is a native English speaker! All the same the vocals are quite easy to decipher. They tower well over the music, even if the singer's range is limited. On the guitar front, the Cameron brothers handle their instruments well. They contribute good chops, fantastic riffs and generally have good interplay as exemplified at the end of Crystal Sky. The drummer though has the occasional tendency to be out of synchronization with the rest of the band. It can be a good or bad thing, and occasionally it is an odd thing. All in all, Total Eclipse is a good band which composes respectable metal. Were the band to drop playing the odd cover version, reworking the drum approach and perhaps even have the singer try a couple of different notes, things will certainly pick up drastically. - Ali "The Metallian"