Changed Name to Hell United
Redrum666, 2004
Genre: Black/Death Metal
1. Apostasy
2. Procession of Blind
3. Sick.Sin.Skin
4. Allegory of Suffering
5. Ain Sof Aur
6. Black Coronation
7. New Führer
8. Dyscrasia
9. Manifestation of V Stabbing Wounds
10. After the Sepulture (Samael Cover)
Let me start this by saying I really enjoyed Hell United, which eventually lead to me tracking down this bands earlier incarnation as Eclypse. I'm usually fairly adamant on reviewing everything a band puts out, but I think their demo "Omen" is long gone and the only version I have is a re-release with a Hell United demo. I'm not sure how well it transferred over. Then everything that was on "New Führer" promo appeared on this album, so I don't see much of a point in tracking that down.
"Applause" starts off very strong with a child stating "Jesus is dead" in a very mocking manner. Then it just launches into one of the stronger tracks on the album "Apostasy". Eclypse play a sort of Black/Death Metal blend and sometimes they are very successful at this and other times I feel they can be rather bland. Some aspects sound totally taken from the book of Vader or Behemoth and these parts sound pretty good, especially since Eclypse has more of a Black Metal leaning. Unfortunately, on some tracks they try to throw in a lot more technical elements like on "Procession of Blind". The main reason this doesn't work for Eclypse is because as soon as they begin doing anything technical all aspects of their atmosphere just disappears! This is just terrible in my opinion and makes the album feel very disjointed in it's arrangement.
The above may sound like a deterrent from listening to this album, but I should emphasize that there is some real strong material on here. Most of the songs are quite good even if it is an approach I've seen time and time again. One that's a little different is "Ain Sof Aur" which sounds like something I would hear on early Nile albums with it's ritualistic feel and tone. The album eventually closes with the Samael cover "After the Sepulture" and Eclypse have put their own sort of twist. There are no keyboards on this version they really upped the drum performance. The original version has no blast beats, for example, and Eclypse included them on some parts. I think they did a great job on doing this and modifying it in their own way.
This album was impeccably recorded as well. I've come to expect this sort of standard with Death Metal related acts. One thing I like about Eclypse's production style is that the instruments still feel quite organic. Despite being released in 2004, things aren't overly digital in feel. This is something I greatly appreciate.
In the end I think I see where Eclypse was trying to go. I feel like the band's direction took a turn towards more Black Metal when they switched to being Hell United. I can see why they decided to change names in that regard because Hell United does feel quite a bit like a different project. I think they really found the right creative elements to write well after Eclypse, but if you're really into Polish Death Metal, listening to Eclypse won't be a waste of your time! While I, personally, probably won't pull this out very often, it's not something I would shut off if it was on.
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