Valarius After a strong debut showing, Enchant follow up with an album that certainly leaves me feeling a bit 'Wounded'.

With high expectations after the brilliant 'A Blueprint of the World', 'Wounded' fails to live up to the same standard expected from one of the world’s most beloved Prog bands. The problem I find with this album is that most of the songs just 'aren't happening'. I wouldn't say they're boring or bland, but there's just no spark to them that gets me truly excited.

As with most Enchant albums, the first song is a true gem, but the rest of the album takes a while for me to digest. Whilst that patience won through the first time around, this time I wasn't as impressed. Besides said first track 'Below Zero', 'Pure' and 'Missing' are some songs worth getting this album for, but besides these three, the rest of the songs are 'good' at best (but at least none of them are 'bad').

There's some fine musicianship, and Ted Leonards vocals are always a joy to hear, but overall this album can only be summed up as 'good, but non-essential'.

Pelata Enchant is a band that cannot be denied. The talent and songwriting of this band is stunning. Their combination of melody, mood and technical excellence is unlike any other. They're dark, yet hopeful. Subtle, yet brimming with virtuosity. Soothing, while still conjuring moods heavier than some metal bands. 'Blink Of An Eye' sports all of the elements that have caused Enchant's industry buzz for several years now while bringing in a few surprises that do nothing but add to their arsenal.

One of the most noticeable changes is the subtle upping of the guitar crunch. This newest offering boasts some of Ott's heaviest riff work to date. Not that Meshuggah is in any danger, mind you, but the guitars are certainly more present. There is simply not a bad song on this album. Opening track "Under Fire" is classic Enchant. It's melodic, provocative, emotional and extremely catchy. Vocalist Ted Leonard is very convincing in his delivery here and on every record I have heard him on. His smooth, high-end vocals lend themselves perfectly to Doug Ott's moving, heart-wrenching musical weavings. These two guys are the perfect combo. Together they create the Enchant sound. "Flat Line" starts out with some great staccato shredding on the intro before delving into another passionate melody from Leonard. The chorus here is one of the record's strongest with its deep hook and smooth backing vocals. "Despicable" begins with a Police-like jumping rhythm before cascading into an airy vocal melody on the verse. Another great chorus makes its way into your heart with this one.

One of Enchant's many strengths has been their lyrics, and 'Blink Of An Eye' is no exception. The aforementioned "Under Fire" speaks of one man's personal guilt and scars of war. "All's fair in war they say, but later as I try to sleep I just can't help but replay...in the blink of an eye, I took someone's life". "Monday" is an ode to those who sacrifice their dreams for "real life". "I don't want to be one more calf who's suckling the Cash Cow...dressed like a corporate freak, begging the clock to give me the chance to be me...when dreams die you can chalk it all up to a Monday...and all that used to define you serves only just to remind you of the man you'll never be...".

To put it as simply as possible, I love this band and 'Blink Of An Eye' is a marvelous record. The world of prog rock/metal is a better place simply by having Enchant as a part of it.

ydewata Enchant would surely be my another finding of talented neo-prog band after being a while only focusing to Marillion and Arena. To be honest, 2003’s Tug of War was the album I began with. Much to my surprise, this was another journey to the neo-prog world that I wasn’t expecting to. Well, it has the melodic rhythm and somewhat mellow vocals harmony –which I truly love—as perhaps other neo-proggers out there. What surprised me more was there were elements of (light) progressive metal here and there. Bits and pieces. You hear it through the rhythm guitars parts, keyboards parts, or the time-changes on the drumming pattern.

Opened with a mid-tempo track “Sinking Sand”, I was immediately floored with the melodic vocals harmony and the guitar solo part. Did I mention about the (light) progmet stuff? Yes you can find it in the title-track “Tug of War”. “Hold The Wind” is also another close-to-progmet track. Now even the vocals melody was getting very close to the progmet boundary.

You don’t have to be in a ‘heavy’ mode all the time as “Beautiful” stands out to be a beautiful ballad provided by the band. This is a great record while I have to be honest that “Living In A Movie” is somewhat a filler for me. Other than that, this is a classic output from the band.

ydewata Enchant’s Juggling 9 Or Dropping 10 was my second encounter to the band. Again, I was immediately floored the first time I got into the opening track “Paint The Picture”, especially the guitar solo part starting approximately at 4:15 minute. I could die just listening to that solo part. Another I-just-could-die moment is during “Colors Fade”, a Rush-y melodic track that would be able to make you sit down and recollect your old memories, some memories that may have forgotten. Yes, you got it correct from my narratives, this is my favorite track of the album.

Although I think this record has some fillers in it (“Black Eyes & Broken Glass” and Shell of A Man” to name two), it has some memorable moments as well and periodically played in my portable mp3 player. Other highlight tracks of the album are the somewhat funky “Juggling Knives”, the ballad “What To Say”, and the melodic “Broken Wave”.

Again, another very much recommended output from Enchant. There is not much skills showing-off or odd-time signature changes, but it’s the delivered melody that you can’t just resist it.

Valarius People could easily mistake this for a band who has been around for years. Surprisenly though, 'A Blueprint of the World' is Enchants debut album.

Upon my first hearing of this album, I fell into what I would go on to refer to as 'Enchant Syndrome'. One problem I have with Enchants albums is that the opening track is always an amazing song that instantly hooks me, but then I go on to find the rest of the album slightly more challenging, and it takes a long time for every song to really ‘click’ with me.

After so many listens I can say that this is a great album, and actually something that I'd consider a blueprint for what I hope will one day be my band’s debut album. But unfortunately it took me so many listens to learn all the different tracks that there's no way I could consider giving this a five star rating.

However, after a long and grueling struggle, I finally know and recognize all the songs, and love 'em all. Everything a Prog fan could ask for is right here. Fantastic musicianship, catchy melodies and choruses, long, complex song structures, top-notch production, this band has it all.

My version of this album also comes with a bonus CD which contains ten tracks, basically consisting of demos and rough drafts of songs on this album. Nothing to shout home about, although there is one track that didn't make the album called 'The Calling'. This is a great song and I'm saddened that it didn't make the cut. But thankfully that's what bonus discs are for!

Overall this is a brilliant debut effort, though it took me some time to realise it. Songs like 'The Thirst', 'Oasis' and 'Nighttime Sky' are just some of the highlights. Every song on this album can stand alone as a masterpiece. I definitely recommend this album for any fan of Progressive music!