Customer Reviews

Tug of War

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

wow, with each album they keep improving and getting better if that is possible!!!! The last album Blink of an Eye was amazing and featured the new drummer Sean Flanegan, he seems to find his own on this album and is truly spectatcular. Blink saw no keyboardist for the band and had a friend sit in on keys and was great, the new full time keyboardist is Bill Jenkins and is incredible.

If you are new to Enchant, they can be described as a hard rock melodic progressive band, not metal, not full out prog, just great stuff. Influences to my ears are Kansas, especially in the vocal department, Ted has just an amazing set of pipes, wow!!!! Other influences to me are Rush and Marillion.

It is hard to go song by song but Sinking Sand is a great hard rock tune with vocals to the heavens, probably next to Under Fire on the Blink album, Sinking Sand is the best Enchant album opener. The second track, Tug of War is a great hard tune again and the album continues to rock. Beautiful is all that, a beautiful tune that should be played on radio but not your typical crappy ballad, just great!!!

In closing, after 5 listens, song by song, this is the strongest Enchant album with no weak points, after seven albums, don"t know why they are almost unheard of, they have to be thee best hard rock melodic prog band out today. After this, get Blink of an Eye and Juggling. You will thank me, trust me, just great

I was given a copy of ToW by Mr. Doug Ott himself. I am a huge Rush fan, and was a little apprehensive of this band I had never heard of. I popped it in the cd player on the way home from a late night gig. The first guitar chords woke me up like a jolt of strong coffee. Wow...these guys are absolutley amazing. Doug's guitar work is incredible. Ed's bass work rivals Geddy Lee imho. When I first heard Ted sing, I thought it was Kansas. My personal favorite is the title track. The opening guitar riffs are reminiscent of alot of 90's grunge bands..raw and full of emotion. It builds into a full blown rampage of power. The message of the song is driven home. The rest of the album is pure Prog, with the exception of Beautiful, which pays homage to Doug's beautiful wife. I am a huge Enchant fan now, and I will soon own the entire catalog! A no risk purchase for sure

Having been an Enchant fan for the past few years, I am dissapointed to say that this one falls short of what I expected. The excellent musicianship is still there, it jsut lacks the great melodies that Enchant is known for. Some exceptions are "Living in a Movie", "Long Way Down", and "Comatose"..There is also a great instramental appropriately named "Progtology"...New fans might enjoy, I just expected MORE....This CD was produced in less than 1 year, and it sounds rushed (no pun intended!).

First off, I am a big fan of this Bay Area band, and have long thought these guys were incredibly talented. Now though, I can safely say now that Tug of War is the finest CD Enchant has put out.

Lush melodies, rich harmonies, killer arrangements --- what's not to like?? Overall, this is a 10/10! This CD manages to take each one member of the band and showcase him...Ted's vocals are amazing -- strongest he's ever been...Doug kicks (...) on that guitar....Bill's keys soar....Sean's drums groove...and Ed is all over the bass - tapping and thumping. LOVE all that bass! Killer tracks are Sinking Sand, Tug of War, Progtology, and Comatose (if this one doesn't touch your heart and/or soul you really need to check your pulse!)

Tug of War is a whirlwind of music, reality, and emotion that is so tough to find these days! Prog, prog rock, and prog metal fans alike will go for this CD in a big way! And go for the Limited Edition - you get a live cut from 2002's NEARFest and a very cool booklet, with some wonderful liner notes to take you even farther into this music!

Get it! Listen, love it! Then pick up their OTHER six CD's !!! This is a band you want to know!

I discovered Enchant by chance when I happend upon a copy of their second CD entitled "Wounded"; I have since bought the entire catalog. With each release these guys blow me away. I thought nothing could top "Blink Of An Eye", I literally wore that CD out! But, "Tug Of War" is one word, INCREDIBLE!

The CD is incredibly diverse. It is progressive without being pretentious, catchy without being repetiticious and boring. Ted Leonard has incredible range and shows that someone who can "really sing" is still out there. Ed Platt's bass work is brilliant and when combined with the thrilling guitar work of Doug Ott, the bombastic drumming of Sean Flanegan and the infusion of keyboard wizard, Bill Jenkins it is truly "wonderful, sublime it's magical, divine, it's BEAUTIFUL".

Now for the songs, and I will be brief....they are all incredible!!! To say one is better than the other would be unfair to the song and it's message. These song are like good books, they mean something unique to each listener. The music paints it's own cavas for everyone and the lyrical content of each song can absolutely floor you depending on the things you have experienced in your life. It is rare indeed to hear lyrics that are both positive and hopeful yet sobering and real. And, Enchant does this and is still able to weave masterful riffs, hooks, melodies and song structures that make the listener long for the next release from this wonderful band. I will say that my personal favorites are "Speak No Evil" and "Beautiful" perhaps because of my own life experiences.

Please go out and buy this CD so Enchant can continue to fill my living room with it's unique sound for many years to come.

I would give this CD more stars if the damn pull down would let me!

I'm not sure what amazes me more. How superb this disk is, or that it was released a year after their last stellar effort came out.

I gave this disk 5 stars. Honestly, I think 4.5 would be more appropriate as it's difficult for me to give any album the a "perfect".

I'll start off by saying that at first, I wasn't too impressed with this disk. It took a fair amount of time to really appreciate, excepting a few songs like Sinking Sands (which is brilliantly simple yet still sufficiently progressive) and the title track which...well...it just kicks [butt], and there's nothing more to be said about it.

After I listened to it more, and more, and more, I've grown to like it more and more and more. That's pretty standard. What isn't so standard is that that I've never gotten tired of any of the songs. None of them. Sure...I have my favorite tracks (Tug, Progtology, Long Way Down, Hold the Wind, See no Evil...), but even Beautiful (I'm not big on ballads) has given me no desire to skip.

Production quality is top notch from the music right down to the packaging (which is really, really superb from the art to the content of line notes and band member profiles).

But the music is what counts, of course, and if you enjoy progressive rock this disk will not disappoint you...unless you don't give it a fair chance.

Buy it. Be happy. And check out their other albums. I know you haven't already, because if you had, you'd just buy this without giving a ... what I have to say about it. This album runs neck and neck with Blink of an Eye for my favorite Enchant effort, but there's no bad album to be had from these guys.

This is a solid release from a great neo-prog band. Enchant has never quite been able to recapture the magic or consistency of their first three albums, but Tug of War is still a very good entry in the Enchant catalog. The first and last tracks, Sinking Sand and Comatose, are both awesome, and the tracks in between are consistently good. Ted Leonard still has one of the best voices around (in my opinion), and Doug Ott's guitar work is great as usual. If you are already a fan of Enchant, I would say that this CD is worth getting. If you aren't familiar with Enchant, I would recommend starting instead with one of their first three releases (A Blueprint of the World, Wounded, and Time Lost), or perhaps with their recent double-disc live release "Live at Last."

This is a "Tug Of War" release from Enchant for me. I'm having a very hard time enjoying this as much as their previous efforts. As someone posted before, it sounds hurried IMO. It's still a very solid effort as far as musicianship is concerned....

"Tug Of War" isn't bad, it's just not excellent. Everything else, from their debut on have been masterpieces. This unfortunately, is a step back IMO...

Infectious... amazing.... moving... rocking!

All of these sum up ENCHANT'S latest effort. Start to finish, one of their best albums - with Sean Flannigan on drums having settled into the band and with their new keyboardist on board, the bands roster is a stable unit again and boy, does it show. As much as I love the sound of the band from their first album, they have 'rediscovered' their sound and continue to evolve - and I'm absolutely loving the direction they're headed.

Doug's guitar is crisper and heavier, Ed's bass is finally getting the attention it deserves as he works it and grooves - nice and prominant in the mix, and Ted's voice.... damn, it sounds better than EVER....

This is without a doubt, one of my top 5 albums of 2003.

Stop reading. Buy it.
You won't be sorry.....

I have listened to Juggling 10 Dropping 9 and Blink of an Eye many times over the past year. These are great CDs which balance rock rifts with a progressive flare. But these CDs both have a couple of bad/unnecessary songs which distract from the listening experience. So after buying those CDs I burned shorter copies. The Enchant musicians say they are influenced by Rush, so to use this group as an example, compare their latest Vapor Trails clocking in around 63 minutes with late 1970s Hemispheres, a compact 34 minutes or so. I love Vapor Trails - after cutting out three songs. Blasphamy, but I had to do it.

Tug of War has some of Enchant's most interesting music, but this is the CD I'll be listening to:

01 Sinking Sand
02 Tug of War
03 Hold The Wind
06 Living in a Movie
08 See No Evil
10 Comatose

Yep, just 6 songs, but remember that the total time is still 43 minutes long. That is the length of almost all of the great prog CDs bfore Dream Theater felt a need for a double CD, one that pales to a far shorter Images and Words. This version of Tug of War is 5 stars.

(I might add 07 Long Way Down bringing the CD to 48 minutes.)

04 Beautiful -- Save for the solo album.
05 Queen of the Informed -- To me, this song doesn't really go anywhere. Not bad, just weaker than most.
09 Progtology -- There are many outstanding instrumental parts throughout the CD, and this long one is nothing special.

Finally, Enchant likes the 7+ minute song. This length can work well (Tug of War, Living in a Movie) while Sinking Sand and especially Comatose would be even better in a shortened version.

So buy the CD, turn on your burner, and turn it into a classic.