Artist: Enchant
Label: Inside Out Records
Released: 1995
Rating: 4.5/5
The ’90s were the golden age of modern prog. And in 1995 a handful of bands came out swinging with everything they had. For plenty of people, “A Blueprint Of The World” is still one of the most positive things to come out of this kind of music making in the nineties! Right out of the gate, with their debut, the band from San Francisco offered something unique and instantly recognizable, which is getting harder and harder for new bands to pull off these days, and sadly it’s happening less and less.
From the very first record, Enchant have never been into any kind of prog metal (the Symphony X type), which was developing at the time in, say, the old world, also under the influence of the Dream Theater eruption. While some European bands like Threshold or Vanden Plas were truly weaving progressive elements into the classic building blocks of heavy metal that formed their foundation, Enchant take sort of the opposite approach. Progressive rock is the foundation, perfectly dosed with a variety of sharper, riff-heavy attacks, which never turn the sound into something metallized.
Douglas A. Ott’s guitar approach is special. The band’s unpredictability, their one-of-a-kind musical motifs and their atmosphere really do often recall the Canadian legends Rush (especially Paul Craddick’s drumming approach). Ted Leonard’s vocal tone and approach, meanwhile, are a kind of mix of Steve Walsh (Kansas) and Geddy Lee (Rush), which means a singer with a specific voice, in both range and timbre, that’s a pretty rare find, but all the more welcome for it, since it’s one of the main creators of the band’s uniqueness and recognizability.
The guys don’t exactly hide the fact that they spent long years wearing out school benches, where they diligently drilled their musical scales, because the technical polish of the performance on these songs is outstanding. But there’s no lavish squandering of notes anywhere on the record, so the songs stay compact and keep a common thread. Right in the opening Thirst, the opening keyboard motif, joined by a witty drum accompaniment, hits like lightning. Catharsis, Oasis, the perfect At Death’s Door (without a doubt the peak of the record), Acquaintance and Nighttime Sky – it’s hard to pick, since they’re practically competing over which can impress the listener more effectively. So the album can also boast an exceptional level of consistency. All the compositions are built like a mosaic, out of smaller pieces that flow into one another beautifully. The melodic rhythm line of the bass guitar and the metallic sound of the drums play off each other dynamically throughout, as if they’d known each other for an eternity.
The more aggressive outbursts always blend gorgeously with the acoustic and calmer parts (e.g. Nighttime Sky). “Blueprint Of The World” is an album where you can find something new and exciting with every listen, over and over. An adventure that sinks into your ear after repeated listening, and one you can dig into and explore for a long time, being rewarded accordingly as a music lover every time. Enchant are a band that can win a listener over right away, since they’re extremely strong and convincing in their expression. “Can” means they can’t win over everyone, though. This is a “take it or leave it” kind of band. So the band’s “frequency” has to be close to yours, because of its recognizable and specific character.
I haven’t been this shocked in a long time. You’ve resigned yourself to the fact that nothing earth-shattering can happen on the music market anymore, and you’re forced to start retreating back to listening to creations from the recent past, and then you discover something new. New for real? Only for me. As if the folks at InsideOut knew about all these unbearable woes of mine and, in the spirit of a respectful attitude toward progressive music, decided to put out a remaster of Enchant’s debut. And with a bonus CD, featuring older versions of songs from the first record plus some never-released tracks. All for the price of a single CD. That such music slipped past my ears, and that I’m only getting to know it and befriend it now! Shameful.
Lineup
Ted Leonard – vocals
Douglas A Ott – guitar
Michael “Benignus” Geimer – keyboards
Ed Platt – bass guitar
Paul Craddick – drums
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Steve Rothery – “E-bow” on The Thirst and guitar on Nighttime Sky
Production
Paul A. Schmidt & Douglas Ott
Track List
CD 1.:
1.The Thirst
2.Catharsis
3.Oasis
4.Acquaintance
5.Mae Dae
6.At Death’s Door
7.East Of Eden
8.Nighttime Sky
9.Enchanted
10.Open Eyes
11.Enchanted (acoustic) Bonus
Album length: 67.18
CD 2.:
(included in the 2002 reissue of the album)
1.At Death’s Door
2.Open Eyes
3.Mae Dae
4.The Calling
5.Oasis
6.Dollars And Cents
7.Enchanted
8.Nighttime Sky
9.Aquaintance
10.The Thirst
