LIVE AT LAST

What do you get if you take early 80's Rush, mix it with Pendragon and Marillion, and add in somewhat heavier guitars and a vocalist who wants to be in an 80's hair band? You get this boring and tedious live album from Enchant.

I picked this up because I was curious about this band. I'd heard mixed reviews, but I heard a lot of Rush compairisons as well which made me interested. I was working at a CD shop, and got a nice discount, and this seemed to be a good live best of type compilation (and I've discovered many of my favorite bands over the years, including Gentle Giant, Yes, and Rush, this way). I am not against neo-prog as a general rule, and enjoy IQ and some lesser known neo bands, so that is not the problem here. The problem is that this music is bland, lifeless, and not very well written. Certainly these are fine musicians, though the singer strains quite a bit thoughout the album despite having a fairly decent voice. But I felt no emotion, which seems to happen with a lot of neo prog bands. After 3 listens, I couldn't recall a single melody or riff or lyric. Nothing stood out as particularly good. And all of it sounded so similar, that I had a very hard time paying attention after a couple of songs.

Now I don't really enjoy giving bad reviews, and seeing other reviews for this bands albums, I can assume that this just isn't for me. But if you like distinctive, original, and engaging prog (or any music for that matter), I'd recommend passing on this band. I'm afraid this was a waste of time and money for me.