 Enchant
- "Enchant: Wounded & Time Lost (re-release)" InsideOut / SPV 2002 Hey, I'm holding the second Enchant re-mastered double CD set and just having a great time! The guys hurried up and after two years from their debut release, they offered us a fresh fruit. With "Wounded" they went further in searching for new dimensions. This record goes much harder into ears then their debut album, but it anyway carries within completely recognizable Enchant-kind-of music. With that I mean the band's unique approach which I described in "A Blueprint Of The World" review. The opening track "Below Zero" is the hardest song so far. So I thought that the band's overall decision was to put out a heavier product. Uauuu, again alive rhythms section with its great unstoppable drive beating through the entire record. Middle sections of the songs are again well spiced with a lot of changes in all sorts of melodies, bridges and rhythm sections that are perfectly fitted together. Ed's bass guitar and Paul's drums are challenging all sort of unpredictable bridges and are delivering a great groovy beat on the entire record. I like especially "Hostile World". In that song you can get the feeling as if bass guitar went completely funky mad and is chased by drums that just can't catch the bass line. What energy! Production is well done again, all instruments are well balanced. Doug's guitar work gives a special touch to "Wounded" as whole. A guy with a hard guitar grip and a great feeling for playing riffs that are over leaded by some breathtaking and touchable lead breaks of his own. All those breaks are very well incorporated in the band's music. Guitar never dominates over the other instruments. For Doug there are no music frames. His work can really shock you because you just can't figure out what this guy is up to. So you will be able to feel all his freedom that emerges out of what he's doing with his instrument. What next? Ted's recognizable colour of his voice. He really brings the lyrics alive. Sometimes in higher sequences he is sounding like a siren, with a little touch of Steve Walsch (Kansas). "Look Away" slows down everything a little bit. This song is the only one on the entire record that is more compact and "easier" for listening. I mean that it easier goes in the ear. "Missing", as the last song, speeds up things and by its heaviness (similar to opener "Below Zero") closes the circle. On the other hand "Wounded" is a harder piece than the band's debut album. This is not a sort of progressive that strikes from the first. It will overtake you step by step. And this is a sort of progressive that you can never get enough. You'll simply always find something new inside it. The eternity flows through this music. "Time Lost" represents band's never released surprises. Three of them date back in between 1989 and 1994 and were lately refreshed by involving Ted and Ed on their positions. Four tracks are more recent. All those songs were planed for releasing as an EP after regular release of LP "Wounded". They are heavier oriented and representing somehow a sort of bridge between the band's future and past. The band's further development till recent days, after "Wounded" release. Both CD's are containing bonus tracks, the booklet is rich with the band's never heard memories, you get over two hours and twenty minutes of first class progressive rock and just for the price of one CD. I think there are no reasons left why "Wounded" and "Time Lost" wouldn't find a place in your CD collection.
|
|
|||||