Cast your mind back 28 years, were you even born then, have your memories been swept aside by the winds of time? The reason I am asking is because this is when UK doom death act Enchantment released their debut album ‘Dance The Marble Naked’ via Century Media Records. No doubt spurred by the early attention garnered on what would become to affectionately be later named as The Unholy Trinity (Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Anathema), Century Media had the band from Blackpool signed for a six album deal but.. well who knows exactly what happened? I definitely remember both the album title and cover-art but after that, the track goes cold and as far as the group were concerned that was it until they decided to reform in 2020 and start work on the follow up album. With all four previous members back on board it finally gets a release now and is described as a bit of a “time capsule.” Time to teleport back to the mid 90’s then and see what relevance this has in the modern age and whether the traditional scope of the doom death originators has been maintained.
Lovers of growly vocals, weeping guitar lines and slow-paced heaviness should quickly embrace things here with opener ‘As Greed As The Eyes Behold.’ Yep, it is a bit of a snapshot to times past but it does not strictly stay within these realms throughout its eight tracks. Melody from keyboards is very important here too and at times we venture into atmospheric classical realms from the piano etched melodies. It’s not all growls either as there are some really strong spoken word parts giving things a rich and poetic flavour. Naturally there are also some faster driving flurries bringing some death and all these factors are utilised in just the first number. It’s handled with poise and precision too, despite sounding like this could be a bit overwhelming it is not and flows gracefully and naturally setting things up for a work full of nostalgic romance. ‘A Swanlike Duet’ can’t help you thinking back to a certain band turning these regal birds loose but don’t go looking for dual vocals apart from a bit of spoken word again or for that matter violin. It doesn’t need either to be fair and the band keep things compact with songs flowing over 4-5 minutes, each with their own bit of treasure within. By ‘Painting Among The Feathers’ headbanging and swaying to the hooky guitar work will be impossible to resist and so too will be wanting to see the band live, something I’m not sure they accomplished much back in the day. Unexpected symphonic overtures intrude on ‘On Glorious Vistas Forgotten’ and they really enrich the song quite magically whilst maintaining the ethos of the past.
I’m not so sure about the interlude that is ‘The Wake Of The Hollering Tide,’ sure the sound of waves and the sea is important for anything of this nature but the instrumental is just a bit too ‘post rock’ for me. Thankfully it’s followed by pummelling drums and the album’s most ambitious track ‘In A Cello Felt Glare.’ The melody instantly sweeps you off feet and carries you off like the soundtrack to some tempestuous adventure film. It rapidly became my favourite despite the strength of everything here and once you hear should certainly stir the emotions. Purer death-heads will no doubt plump for the formidable and chunky barrage of ‘The Beauty Of Liars,’ this is more of a back to basics stomper and provides a welcome injection of ballast. I’ve certainly thought of both early Anathema and MDB over the course of the journey, the more metallic interplay of ‘One Jump To The Sun’ has me deciding that perhaps Paradise Lost are not completely forgotten and there are shades of these gods present too.
That said Enchantment are not totally stuck in the past, perhaps the genesis of these tracks were laid down then but they have certainly been updated over the intervening period to give them a modern sheen and naturally rich production. Perhaps I didn’t miss Enchantment but on the strength of this I most certainly welcome them back and keep fingers crossed that they last the distance this time around, rather than disappearing in a puff of smoke. Now all we need is for The Enchanted to reform too!
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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