lukretion Sophomore albums don’t come easy and Wounded, Enchant's second full-length, is no exception. The US prog rockers had debuted three years earlier with A Blueprint of the World, a strong album showcasing all their rich neoprogressive inclinations. On Wounded the band considerably dial back those influences, choosing instead a more direct approach by both simplifying and “metalizing” their sound. Was this a change for the better? It’s hard to say. On the one hand, the new approach will be pivotal for the development of Enchant’s sound in subsequent albums. So, in a way, Wounded is an obligatory passage point for the band’s future. On the other hand, it’s hard to deny that Wounded is overall a step-back in terms of quality of songwriting compared to their previous record. In fact, after the opening three songs, the album quickly sinks into a sea of forgettable averageness from which it never recovers.

In many ways, Wounded is a unique-sounding album in Enchant’s catalogue. It’s their heaviest record by far, mainly thanks to guitarist Doug Ott’s newfound approach, as he mostly abandons his signature light-touch, clean-tone, vaguely jazzy playing in favour of more distortion and riffing. This brings the songs closer to the typical prog metal sound, with the music’s backbone mainly comprised of rhythmic but melodic guitar licks, often doubled by Ed Platt’s bass. Drummer Paul Craddick complements the new approach well, with a punchier and groovier performance that considerably limits his usual complex and variegated playing. Even vocalist Ted Leonard adapts his singing to embrace the new direction, by injecting more power into his voice with a performance that is at times reminiscent of Dream Theater’s James LaBrie.

This heavier direction is complemented by a general simplification of the arrangements and songwriting. The songs are now more chorus-focused, with a structure that consists of repeated verse-chorus sequences interrupted by instrumental sections that give Doug Ott and keyboard player Michael Geimer some room to engage in their usual duelling solos. The arrangements are also more straightforward, with fewer changes between songs’ sections, making the music more accessible compared to the debut album. The song length, however, has not decreased much – and in fact all tracks go beyond the 6-minute mark. Given the more direct nature of the material, this is not exactly a good thing, as many songs tend to overstay their welcome with excessive repetitions that do not add much to the overall effect.

The main problem of this album, however, is that a lot of the songs are quite generic and average – lacking strong melodies or interesting arrangements that can fully engage the listener. In fact, Enchant seem to have spent their best ideas in the first three album’s tracks, “Below Zero”, “Fade 2 Grey” and “Pure”. The opening track is absolutely phenomenal – one of Enchant’s best songs tout court. Here the new heavy/direct approach really shines, in Doug Ott’s crunchy riff and Ted Leonard’s beautiful, gritty vocal approach. “Fade 2 Grey” is interesting because it features hints of the band’s classic prog rock style, but mixed to the new heavier direction, while “Pure” stands out thanks to its beautiful dynamics and another excellent performance by Ted. The remaining six song, however, are nowhere near the quality level of the opening trio – perhaps with the exception of the gutsy “Look Away”. There is nothing particularly wrong with these tracks, except that they sound terribly middle-of-the-road and very similar to one another, making the second half of the album quite difficult to sit through without losing focus. The slightly muddy and rough production does not help either - another step back compared to some of the excellent-sounding songs included in A Blueprint of the World.

All considered, it’s hard not to see Wounded as a transitional record – and Enchant will in fact quickly change direction on their next (proper) full-length Break, after the interlocutory EP/LP Time Lost. Wounded is nevertheless an important stepping stone for Break and all the albums that will follow. While Enchant will by and large stay away from the heavy, riff-laden sound one can hear on this album, the simplified, more direct approach that they pioneered on Wounded will be a constant characteristic of the band’s future sound. Thus, while not my favourite Enchant’ album, Wounded has definitely a place in the band’s discography as an essential bridge to their true sonic identity.

Warthur It took a little while for Enchant to come back to the studio to record their second album, Wounded, and what's immediately apparent when you listen to it is that their sound has shifted in comparison to the style they aired on A Blueprint of the World.

That was largely steeped in UK-style neo-prog - with touches of Marillion, IQ, and Jadis being apparent - with perhaps a bit of Kansas influence on the side, and you'll still hear flashes of that here, especially in the quieter moments, such as the opening of Fade 2 Grey. Keep listening just a touch after that intro, though, and you'll hear the big difference this time around kick in; there's an extensive amount of Dream Theater influence which has crept into their sound (along with perhaps a touch of Rush, but you can't really be all that influenced by 1990s Dream Theater without getting a little Rush in the mix anyway).

It's not that they go prog metal here - not quite all the way, at any rate - so much as they've decided to explore the sonic gap between neo-prog and Dream Theater-style prog metal without entirely entering the territory of prog metal proper. As mentioned, in quieter moments they do seem to return to their neo-prog comfort zone, at least briefly, but even the heavier moments on the album would be the sort of thing which sounds more like a rock band incorporating a bit of metal influence than a metal band rocking out, though obviously the line there's rather fine.

As a result of all this, it's a bit of a transitional album, and also one which feels somehow less fresh than their debut; mix together several different neo-prog influences and you might sound a bit more original, whereas Enchant's main inspiration here seems to have been "gotta sound more like Dream Theater"; by far the weakest parts of the album are those where it sounds like they're about to drift into full clone mode. Nonetheless, it just about won me over - because even when it would threaten to do that, a curveball would come out and shake me out of that feeling, Enchant having retained just enough of their previous style here that they'll occasionally zig where you'd expect Dream Theater to zag.

The album's major fault in terms of execution is the mix on Ted Leonard's voice; in some sections it sounds absolutely fine, but in others it feels a little disconnected from the music; album opener Below Zero suffers especially from this, which is unhelpful because it means the album leads off with a bad first impression. Wounded, along with its companion album Time Lost, got put out as a remastered 2CD set in 2002 by InsideOut, with a similar remastering job as A Blueprint of the World received that same year, and to my ears a credible job has been done of trying to correct for this, but it's clear that there was only so much that could be done on that front.

This is a real shame, because Ted Leonard's vocals are such an asset to the group, so if they aren't being showcased properly then Enchant are really not coming across in their best light. On the whole, I still think this is a good, entertaining album - say three and a half stars, round up to 3.75 if you are a keen prog fan (particularly if you like Dream Theater and neo-prog) - but it just has too much baggage to hit the fourth star.

UMUR "Wounded" is the second full-length studio album by US progressive rock/metal act Enchant. The album was originally released in 1996 through Dream Circle Records but it saw a more widespread release in 1997 through InsideOut Music in Europe and through Magna Carta Records in The United States. It´s the successor to "A Blueprint Of The World" from 1993. The quintet lineup who recorded the debut album is intact on "Wounded".

"Wounded" features a slightly harder edged progressive rock/metal sound to the sound on "A Blueprint Of The World" (1993), but Enchant are generally not a very hard edged or heavy metal oriented band. Their songs can be relatively heavy though. The music is dynamic and often shifts between mellow verses and more loud and catchy choruses featuring the soaring high pitched vocals of Ted Leonard. The rhythm section are skilled and drive the music forward, but to my ears the omnipresent use of thin sounding slap bass is completely out of key with the rest of the music. A more conventional bass style would have suited the material much better.

The songwriting is relatively straight forward vers/chorus structured, but does feature instrumental sections to spice things up. It´s not overtly complex music though. "Wounded" was produced by guitarist Douglas A. Ott, who also produced half of the tracks on "A Blueprint Of The World" (1993), and although he does a slighly better job here, than he did on the not very well sounding debut album, "Wounded" is still not a professional sounding release to my ears. The vocals sound detached from the remaining part of the music, the guitars are placed too low in the mix, and the drums also feature a rather strange tone. "Wounded" is just not a very well sounding release.

When that is said "Wounded" still has quite a few redeeming qualities making it a decent quality release. It´s an album for fans of hard edged progressive rock or soft progressive metal, which is intriguing, but not too challenging. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

martindavey87 Enchant's debut, 'A Blueprint of the World', caused a bit of a stir in the prog world when it was released back in 1993. With a combination of good songwriting and solid musicianship, catchy hooks and a sound that would appeal to fans of old progressive rock or the rising progressive metal scene, expectations were high for its follow-up.

Sadly, they're expectations that I feel the band couldn't live up to.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love Enchant, but 'Wounded' has always been that little hiccup in their discography where things just don't click for me. As before, the musicianship is impeccable and Ted Leonard's vocals are fantastic as always, but the songs just "aren't happening" as they were before.

There are a few highlights, though. Tracks like 'Below Zero', 'Pure', 'Hostile World' and 'Missing' are all good, and in fact, none of the songs are bad, but they're just not overly memorable either, especially when compared to the bands later material.

Enchant are one of my favourite groups, and it pains me to say this, but 'Wounded' is just an all-round forgettable release.