1 Comment February 24, 2011 – 4:13 pm popping..

To those wondering and questioning whether Arnel Pineda is still with Journey, here is your solid answer– Journey announces the upcoming release of its second album with Arnel entitled “Eclipse” due to be out exclusively via Walmart on May 24th, 2011.

“Frontiers Records will release the album to the rest of the world on, or close to, May 24,. The 12 tracks were written over the past 18 months by the core team of guitarist Neal Schon and keyboard player Jonathan Cain with collaboration from singer Arnel Pineda,”

Journey wrote on their official Facebook page. The album features 12 tracks including one instrumental track. It is produced and recorded by Kevin Shirley, and mixed by David Kalmusky. Neal Schon in an interview with VH1 said of the album:

“The record, it’s been done for a while. It sounds amazing. I’m in love with the record, which I haven’t said for a long time. I was very involved with this record. Jon Cain and I wrote the whole thing with a little help from Arnel. You know, I really fought for this record to be the way it is. It’s a rock record. It’s built for the places we’re about to play. We’re playing a lot of big shows – South America and Europe – and we’re going to be touring the whole world on and off for two years. So with the addition of Arnel, we’ve become more of an international band which has been really great. We busted all kinds of markets wide open. So I wrote for what I felt we were missing in our show. We’ve got a lot of hits to play and we have to play those but there’s plenty of time to do some new stuff too so we’re gonna mix it up.”

Journey kicked off their first live show for 2011 in Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas yesterday February 23, giving the audience a taste of their new music from the Eclipse album. They performed 5 of 12 tracks: “Resonate, Chain of Love, Edge Of The Moment, City Of Hope, and Human Feel (Rise Up).” We are already hearing buzz on this record but gets mixed, tepid reviews on YouTube based on the live tunes. I hope none of the songs they performed are their best because it didn’t really appeal much to me. Then again, the live performances are always tricky to judge because most often the studio recording sound different, ‘cleaner’ if I may say. Clearly, this album is going to be darker and more hard rock. I just don’t know if I like such sound. Watch the videos and tell me what you think. I will still be buying the record regardless! I support Arnel and I support Filipino artists working hard to make it as an international artist. Based on recording albums and concert touring around the world, if there’s one Filipino artist who has truly made it as one- it is Arnel… Note: Live tracks have been removed by YouTube! Here’s the official album buzz from frontiers Records:

The Eclipse Tour Trailer:

“City of Hope”