Enchant

Blink of an Eye (InsideOut)
by Martin Popoff

Back with an album similar, if not a little more lively and percussive than the immense Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 album from two years back, San Francisco’s Enchant have another winner here, a record that is a gleaming alloy of the rarely examined mid-’80s to mid-’90s material from Rush and a lush, acoustic, groovy pop sensibility akin to acts ranging from Todd Rundgren to Mullmuzzler to Tiles to Styx, the last a comparison driven very much by the similarity of Ted Leonard’s vocals to those of Tommy Shaw. The melodies enclosed are dreamy, complex, euphoric (see “Ultimate Gift” and poignant rat race lament “Monday”), and their buoyant nature is supported by the energetic and sizzling drum work of Sean Flanegan, who plies his trade through a profusion of open high hats, cymbal splashes, and tight snare whacks. As befits that Rush comparison, the guitars are behaved, timid, round, integrated into the rich melodies, the entire album living, breathing, and thriving from this chemistry, each track, despite wildly different structures, rocking quite evenly and persistently, creating a unified work of loud, sparkly, optimistic progressive pop metal.
(1601 Banksville Rd. 2nd Fl. Pittsburgh, PA 15216)