A BLUEPRINT OF THE WORLD

If I was only given two words that represent two extreme poles in progressive music, i.e. "complexity" at one pole and "melody" at the other pole, I would put "A Blueprint of the World" album "in the middle" between two poles. Having these two poles combined together, obviously there must be bands which are combination of "high or medium or low" complexity in their music with "strong or mediocre or weak" melody line. This album by Enchant has medium complexity and weak melody - that's why I call it as "in the middle". To put things into perspective I would give you an example of song with strong melody, ie. "Fly on A Windshield" by Genesis, "Heart of Lothian" by Marillion or "Junk and Donuts" by Citizen Cain. At album level I would say these ones can be considered as strong in melody: "Misplaced Childhood" by Marillion, "Ever" by IQ. On complexity I would consider these ones as complex album: "Tales From Topographic Ocean" by Yes, "The Music That Died Alone" by The Tangent or albums by Somnambulist.

As for "A Blueprint of the World", it offers some complexity in its composition (almost all songs) but they are not sufficiently backed up by good melody line. This does not mean that this is a bad album at all. I think the band has put their efforts making their arrangements in medium complexity through the domination of guitar fills and solo augmented with keyboard layers. Take the guitar solo at third track "Oasis" - no one would deny the virtuosity of the guitar player. You may call it stunning. But just take a deep breath and try to get a feel of melody this track offers - it's relatively weak and not easily accessible to many ears. And still in the corridor of guitar solo, I consider the ones demonstrated at track 6 "At Death's Door" and track 7 "East of Eden" are truly stunning in any dimension you would like to view it. But again, these two tracks fail to produce memorable melodies in any musical segment it offers.

This album is produced by three gentlemen. Five tracks are produced by Marillion's guitar player Steve Rothery and other five tracks by Paul A. Schmidt and Douglas A. Ott. On production and mixing issues I find something very annoying, i.e the drum sounds were mixed very poorly and the drum sounds really disturb the listening pleasure and corrupt the whole music stream.

I would qualify this album by Enchant for those of you who really want to explore neo progressive music. As this is the only Enchant album that I have, it's not wise to say about the band judging from tgis one album. My prog-mate down here, David, sent me countless messages to my cellular saying how good the other albums of Enchant. I might try listening other albums from his collection, later. For sure, I would not buy the CD until I'm sure the other albums are good. If you want to know the kind of music this album offers, imagine this is a JADIS-like music - even though Jadis has heavier guitar solo work by Gary Chandler. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW