Eclipse
It takes 17 minutes and 39 seconds to hit the first satisfyingly Journey-sounding moment on Eclipse, the band’s 14th album: a soaring six-minute-plus power ballad, “Tantra.” For a legacy act whose biggest new audience is “Don’t Stop Believin’ “-loving Glee fans, that’s about 17 minutes too long. Journey‘s second disc with Filipino YouTube discovery Arnel Pineda on vocals is both grand and distractingly proggy. Pineda hits heart-stopping high notes, but guitarist Neal Schon OD’s on noodly solos and chugging Nineties-style power chords. Bloat is a problem (check the Buddhist monk chants on “Resonate”), though nothing can stop “Someone,” a love anthem where hard-charging guitars shove schmaltz aside.
Listen to “Tantra”: