BREAK

It took US prog rockers Enchant a couple of albums to find a unique sound and direction. Their 4th full-length Break is where things finally started falling into place, after three slightly more derivative albums, inspired initially by neoprogressive rock (Marillion) and later by prog metal in the vein of Dream Theater. On Break, Enchant seem to have metabolized both of those influences to arrive at a more personal sound, halfway between progressive rock, prog metal and AOR / mainstream rock.

The album brims with the type of highly-proficient playing and glossy, sophisticated arrangements that you would expect to find on a prog rock record. All songs feature intricate but elegant interplays between guitars, keyboards and bass - the latter frequently also playing a prominent melodic role, which may draw parallels to Rush. The musicians' technical level is very high, but they never get carried away with excessive, showy noodling, but they instead always play to the song. The harmonic structures are complex, often veering towards jazz territory. Paul Craddick's drumming is classy and imaginative and at times reminiscent of Rush's drummer Neil Peart. The production is polished and airy, which allows to appreciate the nuances of the musicians' playing (though it may lack a bit of bite when things get sonically heated).

While the arrangements are complex and layered, structurally the songs are much more straightforward, generally following a standard verse-chorus format, with occasional digressions in the form of bridges or instrumental breaks. The linear structures are a nudge towards radio-friendly rock, which one can also find in the highly melodic vocal lines. Singer Ted Leonard interprets the vocal melodies soulfully with his pristine, powerful voice, at times reminiscent of Steve Walsh (Kansas). This balance between complex progginess and radio-friendly accessibility is a distinctive characteristics of Enchant's sound throughout their career, and it is the reason why sometimes they are described as a "soft progressive rock" band.

The melodies are however one of my main gripes with Break. They generally possess an elusive quality that rarely makes them overtly catchy - certainly nothing even remotely close to what one would call an "earworm". Generally, this may not be a bad thing, since staying clear of cheap ear-candy often improves the repeated listening value of an album. However, things start to get complicated if even after listening to the album several times, one cannot still remember a single vocal line from the record. I am perhaps exaggerating here, since songs like "King", "My Enemy", "The Lizard" and "My Gavel Hand" do leave a mark on the listener. The other songs, however, are much less accessible and memorable, and flow away almost unnoticed. This effect is accentuated by the fact that many songs are quite similar to one another in terms of structure, tempo and mood, so they tend to blend together somewhat, especially between "Defenseless" and "Silence".

All in all and despite the generally high quality of the material, many of the tracks included in this album fall short of making a big impact on the listener. I do not think it is by accident that only two songs from Break (the title-track and "My Enemy") will eventually be included in the double-disc live album Enchant will release a few years later. Having said that, Break remains a quality record, full of classy playing, intelligent arrangements and a handful of excellent song too ("My Enemy" is truly splendid).