JUGGLING 9 OR DROPPING 10

The fourth ( I still don´t cound Time Lost as a real studio album, if you do this is the fifth album) studio album from Enchant called Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 is the highlight of their discography IMO. If I should give an advice to someone curious about Enchant I would tell them to start here even though Break would be a good place to start too. There has been a clear development in style and sound since Break which was a pretty stripped down album when we´re talking Enchant. Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 is a much more elaborate and detailed album. Break was full of good soft progressive metal/ rock songs but Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 takes the style to a higher level even though the main style is much the same.

The music is soft progressive metal/ rock with the emphasis on vocal melodies and not technical playing as many other progressive metal acts seem to favourise. The structure in the music isn´t very complex either. The songs are pretty much vers chorus based with a few middle sections and solos to add some flavour. I don´t normally favour this type of approach but I think it works very well for Enchant.

The are many great songs like Paint The Picture, Rough Draft, Bite My Tongue, Broken Wave and Traces on Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 and I only find Elyse and especially Shell Of A Man to be mediocre tunes which I think the album could have done without. As mentioned there is great focus on the vocal melodies that Ted Leonard sings and his approach has become even better on Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 than it was on Break. He uses his low register more and more while still reaching the high register frequently. I would call his vocal a mix of Ray Alder from Fates Warning and Buddy Lackey from Psychotic Waltz. Listen to Ted Leonard´s singing in Bite My Tonque. It could have been Ray Alder. And listen to his singing in Traces. It´s very influenced by Buddy Lackey. He is not a ripp-off though there are just similarities that can´t be denied.

The rest of the band are very accomplished musicians. The quality in the the playing is very high.

The production is godly IMO. This is how modern prog metal should sound like. It´s one of my favorite productions on any progressive metal album.

Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 is a very good album that fully deserves the 4 stars I will rate it and I will recommend it to fans of soft emotional progressive metal/ rock. The music is generally very commercial and reaches into pop territory more than once but there are heavy riffs here too so don´t worry. I think Enchant reached their creative peak on Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 and the quality in songwriting unfortunately wasn´t as good or catchy on the following two albums. Drummer and co-composer Paul Craddick left the band after Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 and it might have been one of the reasons. The fact is that Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 stands as Enchant´s finest hour IMO.