BREAK

The third regular studio album ( I don´t count Time Lost as a regular studio album) from Enchant saw them changing their style. Break is a well chosen title as the musical style changed if not radically then at least a lot. Off with the long hair and on with the emotional attitudes and more simple songs. I found the first couple of albums from Enchant to be good allthough nothing special but I must say that with Break they hit the right notes to satisfy my hunger for emotional progressive metal.

The first time I listened to Break was at a record store I used to frequently visit. When the title track started I thought wow this sounds like Fates Warning ( Parallels, Inside out period) and after I had listened to the whole album it was still my impression allthough there are other influences too. This is definitely not a ripp-off of Fates Warning but there are many similarities like the simple, subtle way of playing while still maintaining a high technical level, Ted Leonard´s Ray Alder like singing style and the lyrics about broken relationships. The biggest difference between the first two albums from Enchant and Break is the lack of lead guitar and keyboard melodies which Enchant has almost completely abandoned ( There are guitar solos though). The guitar has a very full sound and predominantly plays rythm while the keyboards accompany the music instead of leading it as was sometimes the case on the two first albums. This means that there are much more focus on the vocal melodies which on Break is much stronger and memorable than on both Wounded and A Blueprint of the World. The technical drumming from Paul Craddick is also toned down to a more tasteful style ( some would call it more boring, but I think it´s great).

There are some truly excellent soft progressive metal songs on Break which includes the title track, King, My Enemy, The Lizard, In the Dark and My Gavel Hand. The rest are also great songs and Break generally holds a high compositional level. The technical level is also very high, but don´t expect instrumental runs at the speed of light or strange tempo or time signature changes because Enchant is not that kind of progressive metal band. Like Fates Warning they rely much more on emotion and beautiful subtle instrumental parts.

The musicianship is great on Break and once again I have to mention Paul Craddick for his drum skills. He is the backbone of Enchant and even though he has left behind his crazy technical playing his style is still excellent. Paul Craddick also had a big part in composing the songs on the first four album from Enchant together with guitarist Doug A. Ott. Ted Leonard also needs to be mentioned as he has really stepped up and improved on his vocal performance. His high pitched singing was a bit one-dimensional on the two first albums but on Break he he begins to use a lower register of his voice while still maintaining his high pitched singing style to great effect. The more simple and memorable vocal lines has also helped me to enjoy his voice more. The keyboards from Mike Geimer are also very tasteful while guitarist Doug A. Ott full and warm guitar style is also appreciated greatly by this reviewer.

The production is for the first time on an Enchant album really good. It´s a great late nineties production. Very warm and stripped of anything but the most important things.

Break was my first encounter with Enchant and I was enchanted right away. Had I reviewed Break back then I would have given it a 5 star rating, but I must admit that I don´t listen to Enchant very often these days. That doesn´t mean that Break isn´t an excellent album, but it´s hardly essential. I´ll give it 4 stars as I enjoy it every time I listen to it even though it´s not so often anymore. Fans of Fates Warning ( Parallels and Inside Out) should take a listen to Break as well as it´s successor Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 as there are some really great songs that at least to me sounds like it´s made by a brother to Fates Warning without sounding like a ripp-off.