Eclipse - Already Dead... But Alive! (2007) - An unpolished outsider diamond - 71% (21/09/12)

"Already Dead... But Alive!" is the debut EP of the Laval based progressive power metal band Eclipse that is now called Eclipse Prophecy. When I saw the Quebeckers in concert three years ago, they were quite ashamed when I asked them if they had put out an album that I could purchase. They said that the song writing and the sound of this EP were rather amateurish and that they had developed a lot through the last years. They told me that this release was not representative at all for their improvements and recorded in quite a hurry to make some promotion and get some small medial attention. I still insisted on buying their debut release after a convincing live performance and they finally handed me a copy for only five bucks.

Let's cite the negative points about this output first. The sound of the four tracks is indeed really bad, even if we consider this as an underground release. The vocals sound thin even though the singer is actually quite talented as I could hear and see during the live show. The guitar sound is not always proper and quite fluffy towards the end of this release. The bass guitar is almost inaudible at some times. The drumming simply lacks of dynamism which is rather due to the weak sound than to a limited technique. The keyboards are overall a little bit too present in the song structures. In fact, they happen to sound a little bit artificial as they remind me of some soundtracks of old computer games from the early nineties. Add the fact that the calm ballad attempt "Destiny" definitely has its lengths and that even the epic closer "Beyond Death" should have been shortened about at least four to five minutes to be a truly engaging song. These songs are not entirely bad and have some well done passages but the consistency is pretty instable on here.

Despite these obvious flaws, I happen to like the EP as it sounds quite honest and sympathetic in its simplistic and sometimes even somewhat unique way. The folk influenced opener "Warlords Of Legend" makes me think of some popular fantasy kitsch novels but just by awakening this kind of reminiscences on my mind, the track objectively works quite well. The silly keyboard melodies and the happy chorus are in fact quite catchy. My favourite track is though "Inferno" that features some gripping guitar riffs and a guitar solo that could eventually sound truly impressive if the sound was only a little bit better. The chorus is catchy and since I've first listened to this track it never ever got out of my mind. It must have been more than two years ago since I've last touched this release before reviewing it right now and I still remembered this track. This proves that the young band definitely has some potential for gripping riffs and catchy hooks. Among the rare Quebec based power metal bands, this formation can be described as an unpolished diamond.

In the end, I hope that this band might still come around with some new material anytime soon and also a rerecording and rearrangement of these four songs. It has been a while since I haven't had any news from them but I hope they will get knowledge of my review and carry on. Even if some tracks have some stereotypical features, the band proves its diversity in the four songs and a certain promising song writing potential they should build upon. Any fan of unpolished underground power metal of the European school with some epic and progressive moments should give this rarity a chance. Sadly, there are not all too many power metal bands out there in Quebec and that's why these guys should get more attention and continue carrying the flag of their genre in their fascinating province.