Swedish heavy metal ensemble Eclipse's ever-shifting lineup hasn't stopped their consistent output of expertly crafted melodic rock anthems. Emerging in 2001 with The Truth and a Little More, and led by Swedish songwriter and producer Erik Martensson, the band crystallized their winning blend of crushing riffs and earworm melodies on 2008's Are You Ready to Rock, and continued to perfect the formula on subsequent outings like Armageddonize (2015) and Paradigm (2019). The band was formed in Stockholm in 1999 by three friends, Erik Mårtensson (vocals, guitar, bass), Magnus Henriksson (lead guitar), and Anders Berlin (drums, keys). Within two years, Eclipse had signed with Z Records and released their debut, 2001's The Truth and a Little More, which featured Mårtensson's first attempt at record production. In the two years that followed, the band saw some additions to their lineup, with Fredrik Folkare (Unleashed) coming in to play bass and Magnus Ulfstedt stepping up to play drums. Around the same time, Eclipse also migrated to Frontiers Records -- a label closely associated with the band throughout the years -- for the release of their sophomore record, 2004's Second to None. Mårtensson retrospectively claimed that he was unhappy with the overall sound and production -- which he had handled himself -- for the first two records, pointing at a lack of experience in the studio and as a band; he even went so far as to claim that the first two records were closer to demo tapes, and insisted that Eclipse really started with 2008's Are You Ready to Rock -- their first record to feature Robban Bäck (Sabaton, Prey, Balls) on drums and Johan Berlin -- Anders Berlin's brother -- on keys. For the next four years, the lineup stayed mostly the same, and in that time they released two further records, 2012's Bleed & Scream and 2014's Armageddonize. The following year, Eclipse recruited drummer Philip Crusner, who would appear on their 2017 album Monumentum. In 2019, the band issued their seventh studio long-player, Paradigm. ~ Liam Martin