Multitasker Erik Mårtensson has been involved in some of the great melodic rock albums of recent years, as a member of supergroup W.E.T. and as writer and producer of former Survivor singer Jimi Jamison’s swan song Never Too Late. But it’s with Eclipse that Mårtensson takes centre stage as a frontman, channelling the spirit of 80s arena rock.
The Swedish group’s 2015 album Armageddonize was named in homage to Def Leppard, and there’s an equally OTT sensibility in the title of this follow-up. As Mårtensson says: “Monumentum is one giant fist waiting for a chanting crowd of rockers.”
From supercharged tracks such as Vertigo and Killing Me to the monster power ballad Hurt, every track is an anthem. With Monumentum, Erik Mårtensson has come of age.