Artist: Enchant
Label: Inside Out Records
Release: 2003
Rating: 3/5
One of the main reasons the follow-up to “Blink Of An Eye” (2002) isn’t quite as hard-hitting lies in the band’s decision to bring in a new keyboardist, Bill Jenkins. You notice it right away in the sound, which is now spread equally across all the instruments. On “Blink of An Eye,” guitarist and undisputed boss of the band Doug Ott took care of the “necessary” keyboard makeup, but now the keys are played “honestly” by a proper, trained keyboardist, with real relish, and slotted into the band’s sound in a nicely balanced way. “Tug Of War” delivers an even sharper sonic contrast between the front line, handled by guitar, keys and Ted Leonard’s one-of-a-kind, unmistakable vocals, and a refined, seriously lively and untamed rhythm section. The production is crystal clear, you can literally hear every single guitar “lick,” and the guitar tone leans slightly toward the legendary sound of eighties prog rock bands like Marillion, except that Doug’s guitar is far livelier and its sound even fuller.
The record surprisingly opens with the “lighter” Sinking Sand, which has a standout chorus with subtle, sensual vocals at the center of the action. The band’s specialty is that these guys know how to slyly build up the atmosphere of many a track so that it usually hits its peak right at the end. Hold The Wind is a real treat, with fantastic communication between the players, whose chemistry is downright astonishingly perfect! Beautiful is a ballad that moves the atmosphere to another level and once again puts Ted’s sophisticated knack for adapting to the motifs and verses of the songs front and center. Next up is the punchier Queen Of The Informed, which will pump a higher concentration of adrenaline back into your blood, while Long Way Down is a direct parallel to “Tug Of War.” Progtology is an instrumental where Doug happily warms up his fingers by racing up and down the guitar neck, while the middle switch-up section of the song bizarrely recalls the era of Quensrÿche and their immortal rock music ABC “Operation: Mindcrime,” mostly thanks to the open rhythm “drive” and the sound of the “snare” drum. “Tug Of War” is a highly dynamic record that will surprise you at every turn, above all thanks to the variety of its motifs and an atmosphere that spews out serious intensity and doesn’t let up at a single point. So Enchant don’t know the word cliché and stubbornly follow nobody but themselves.
If you want to hear for yourself how Enchant sound live, get your hands on the limited edition of “Tug Of War” wrapped in a “slipcase” sleeve. The “live” performance of the bonus track Below Zero (“Wounded”, 1996) shows off the band’s hard-hitting tightness on stage. The song is played entirely at a faster tempo than the studio original. Full throttle, supremely confident, perfectly in sync, damn precise and without the slightest slip-up. Enchant have taken yet another decisive step up! The sad part is that only a micro-tiny handful of humanity is aware of it. After everything they’ve shown across seven studio albums, these distinctive, unmistakable American prog rockers from San Francisco are still baffling underrated on the music scene. Guys, it’s time for a double “live” CD!
Lineup
Ted Leonard – vocals
Douglas A. Ott – guitar
Ed Platt – bass
Bill Jenkins – keyboards
Sean Flanegan – drums
Production
Douglas A. Ott
Tracklist
1. Sinking Sand (7:09)
2. Tug Of War (7:41)
3. Holding The Wind (5:45)
4. Beautiful (4:28)
5. Queen Of The Informed (7:01)
6. Living In A Movie (6:58)
7. Long Way Down (4:57)
8. See No Evil (5:52)
9. Progtology (6:46)
10. Comatose (8:50)
11. Below Zero* (6:28)
Album length: 65.32
*….track included only on the limited “slipcase” edition
