ENCHANT — Time Lost (review)

Album · 1997 · Metal Related

3/5 · 2023-07-16
lukretion

While Time Lost has the duration of a LP (and it is in fact widely regarded as Enchant’s third full-length album), the band’s original intention was to release an EP to accompany their latest studio record, 1996’s Wounded. The EP was supposed to contain 4 tracks taken from the same writing sessions that gave life to Wounded. However, inspired by the retrospective nature of the album, Enchant decided to cast their net further back into the past and include 3 more tracks taken from the band’s very early days, before they even recorded their first studio LP A Blueprint of the World. Thus, Time Lost’s length grew to 53 minutes and 25 seconds, gaining somewhat controversially the status of full-length in the band’s discography.

When regarded as a proper full-length album, Time Lost disappoints because the heterogeneous material that the record is compiled of, does not make for a smooth, cohesive listening experience. The first 4 tracks follow the more accessible and heavier approach Enchant embraced on Wounded, with more focus on guitar riffs and hooks rather than on the technical complexity and intricate arrangements that are typical of progressive rock. In the remaining 3 songs, however, Enchant turn the tables and fully embrace their proggy side, with multipart structures, long instrumental sections, layered arrangements and guitar/keyboard solo pyrotechnics, in a style that is more reminiscent of the band’s debut album A Blueprint of the World. The change in aesthetics between the two sets of songs is too conspicuous to go unnoticed, as it’s almost like having two albums crammed in one single release.

However, if one takes the album in the spirit in which it was originally intended – as a compilation of “leftover” material – it’s hard not to marvel at the quality of the songs included here. The four “Wounded” tracks are as good as, if not better than, the material that was actually included in Wounded, to the point that I do not quite understand why they did not make the final cut. “Blind Sided”, in particular, is awesome and features excellent dynamic transitions from the moody verses to the rousing choruses, strong melodies, and really great atmospheres. It somewhat reminds me of “Pure” from Wounded, which may be the reason why the song was eventually excluded from that album’s tracklist. “New Moon” and “Foundations” are also strong tracks, maybe a tad too fragmented in their development, which is probably due to their “rawer” form compared to the songs eventually included in Wounded (“Foundations”, in particular, was the last song written during the Wounded recording sessions and so did not have a lot of time to “mature” into a fully-fledged Enchant track, as the album’s liner notes explain). The three “early-days” songs are also very good and will especially appeal to those who consider A Blueprint of the World one of Enchant’s best releases. These songs feature a mix of original recordings (“Mettle Men” even features Enchant’s original bass player Brian Cline) and new recordings by Enchant’s 1997 line-up. These songs are perhaps slightly meandering and overly complex, giving away the signs of the band’s youthful exuberance at the time they were written, but they do contain some awesome sections nevertheless.

All this makes Time Lost an odd album to rate. It contains some of the best material Enchant have released through their discography, including some of their most sing-alongable tracks ever (“Blind Sided”, “Foundations”). The fact that these songs did not make it on the final tracklists of the band’s previous albums - A Blueprint of the World and Wounded – befuddles me. However, no matter how good these songs are, they just do not work well together as part of the same LP, as the stylistic gap between the first and second set of tracks is simply too vast. So here is the gist: Time Lost works great as a compilation/EP, but lacks the consistency I normally seek in a proper full-length record.