Hi there- I'll take a crack at this but I am by no means an authority- just my thoughts- this is actually part of an essay/ possible short book I am working on about Enchant...
Progressive Rock shoots off from the generic Rock Music tree at an odd angle. It is a relatively young category of music tracing its roots to the 1960s but by its nature and definition, all music is progressive. It is impossible for musicians and any artist for that matter to hear a piece of music and not somehow incorporate its sonic lesson in their own compositions. When a teenager picks up a guitar with the goal of learning to play the instrument, he carries with him all of the songs he has ever heard. Of course, a few stand out as the songs that made him pick up the guitar in the first place. No matter what comes out of his amplifier in later years, he did not start with a blank slate. The best musicians going back to Beethoven took the music of their youth and added their own unique touch and style to make it their own.
The San Francisco-based band ENCHANT has been called a musical sponge by more than a few critics and reviewers during their ten year career. Beginning with their initial effort released in 1994, A BLUEPRINT OF THE WORLD, Enchant was neatly filed as the new masters of Progressive Rock. This genre is quite open ended but there are a few qualities most would agree with: unique and varied time changes, obvious virtuosity of the players, long epic-type songs frequently with a concept running through them, thoughtful and engaging lyrical content, and extended instrumental and solo sections. ...
I'm sure there are others more versed on this subject than me...
Len Roberto
