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The Enid - Something Wicked This Way Comes CD (album) cover

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES

The Enid

 

Symphonic Prog

3.69 | 59 ratings

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GruvanDahlman
Prog Reviewer
4 stars Finally I have sunk my teeth into the beast known as The Enid. I must confess that I have stayed away and in mind dismissed this band as being the equivalent to Enya, which obviously is misguided. I do not care for Enya and my subconscious led me to stray further and further from The Enid as time went by. I was wrong and fooled by my own doing.

When I decided to explore The Enid my Eyes (and ears) fell on this one. Loved and discarded, depending on who you'd ask, I could not do anything but be enthused. The cover was the first thing that grabbed me and the theme, the Cold War and nuclear bombs, the reason for me to go all in on this one.

Being a mere child when this album was released I do remember the times, the early 80's and the Power struggle between the West and the East. Two super Powers dominating the globe whilst I felt the chilling breeze from the threat of nuclear doom and gloom. So, I have become sort of obsessed with albums of this thematic kind. I am also obsessed with the novel "1984" and somehow it all comes together here, on "Something wicked this way comes".

It all starts rather eerily (in "Raindown") with sweeping, disharmonic sounds just prior to head into classical territory. And then the song continues with a ELO-ish, operatic, musical themed sound. It may sound strange, and it is, but it is gloriously brilliant. The synthesized, nigh on 20's sounding, "Jessica" leads into "And then there were none". Quite artificial in sound it is scary and happy at the same time. "Evensong" is like a somber march for a world troubled with nuclear threats. "Bright star" seems like an interlude to "Song for Europé", a brilliant piece of bombastic prog. I get the feeling a some intro to the Olympic games during this era and maybe one could view the politics at the time as a Sporting event, though deadly serious. The title track is the best piece on this albuw. Beautiful, melancholic, light, sinister and floating. I love this track.

While the album holds vocal contributions it is mainly instrumental. I tend to be wary of instrumental music, for reasons I cannot account for. However, this album balances perfectly between instrumental music and vocals.

All in all, one might say that this album very accurately describes the feeling of the early 80's. It is chilly, artificial and eerie but all in a good way. The warmth is there but the freezing winds of high politics makes it all the scarier and cold.

I think this is a brilliant album, well worth exploring if you are interested in The Enid or just want some great, classically infused, symphonic musical-ish progressive rock. It i really something. I happen to own the deluxe edition, which comes with a lot of bonus material, and do recommend you to t´get a hold of that one, if you can.

GruvanDahlman | 4/5 |

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