Invicta

This is a brilliant new album. I get the sense that The Enid are really pushing forward in a new direction without losing anything that makes them the band that they are. Joe Payne's vocals add a new dimension to the music and fit in perfectly with the rich orchestrations. It's also good to hear Jason Ducker's guitar a bit further forward in the mix on this album.

This album has everything you expect from The Enid and more.....This album shows this band at the top of their game.There is no filler here and for me the stand out tracks are One And The Many and Who Created Me.There is a lot of depth to this album which you will be playing again and again......I love it

New to The Enid, this my first album. Amazing, but then I like Alan Parsons Project, very similar. Listened to several times in couple days, that's how much inrate this album. Quality of pressing great too, unlike sadly, a new Asia limited edition purchase.

I really wanted to love this, because clearly a lot of time and effort has gone into it. I wanted to proclaim that it fulfilled all the promise shown by Journey's End. But I'm sorry, Enidi, Guardian readers, fans, I'm afraid I can't enthuse much. While I prefer The Enid's music to be purely instrumental, and feel their best work - Aerie-faerie nonsense from the early days and White Goddess more recently - to be without vocals, I don't have an objection to a singer per se. And Joe Payne can certainly sing. Sadly, though, I find that his airy, ethereal, oh-so-clearly-enunciated voice to be curiously passionless; at any rate, it leaves me quite cold. Maybe the fact that I hate opera has something to do with it. It might not have mattered. The Enid haven't exactly been blessed with great vocalists over the years! Here, however, the music seems subservient to the vocal extravaganza. And even the instrumental passages seem rather derivative of earlier Enid music. Heaven's Gate, for example, the only instrumental piece here if you discount the (admittedly) impressive, short opener, while an enjoyable listen, doesn't exactly make you sit up and take notice. It seems rather emasculated, in fact, the fine guitar sounding rather weedy. I find this odd, considering the amount of work that must have gone into the production. The other thing that really puts me off the album is the lyric content. Whilst I can't deny that Joe has a good voice, albeit one not to my taste, his lyrics are seriously naff. Clichés abound. A breeze is inevitably `gentle'; a front `united'; a heart `heavy' and so on. Elsewhere, there are tired phrases like `solid as a rock', `sink or swim' and `heart and soul', unfortunately printed on the sleeve for all to see. I find the sleeve itself quite icky too, incidentally, a sort of updated Six Pieces, and we all know how naff that was! There are some pleasant tunes, and this is certainly a change of direction. The Enid have never been afraid of re-inventing themselves, and despite my lukewarm response, I'm pleased to see the band getting recognition at last. I see it's got a lot of 5 star reviews, perhaps from the band's die-hard following. And I'd love to be able to add to them. But, with a heavy heart, as Joe would say, I have to confess I doubt I'll be playing this much. It's okay, but I'd certainly advise fans to check out extracts on the website before buying. You may like the Enid's new direction. But for me, the jury's still out.

The 21st century Enid have pulled off a clever trick with Invicta. It manages to sound like an Enid album, whilst avoiding self parody. Significant credit for this must go to new vocalist Joe Payne, who brings a new, distinctive style. Theatrical with a dash of eccentricity, for instance the first epic length song being mostly in falsetto. Villain of Science reminds me a little of the melodrama of something like Jesus Christ Superstar, in the vocal delivery. Just right for the Enid. I think they miss the bizarrely arresting tones of Steven Stewart's unique lead guitar. But Payne's veneer of wackiness redresses the balance nicely. Guitarist Jason Ducker maybe suffers from some expectation to recreate the Stewart sound, but to me is at his best when bringing his own style. Reflected best I think again on the VOS track - at least on first few listens. Like most Enid fans here it seems, for me this album is a joy, and in the unpredictable world of the Enid, a blessed relief! Personally I always liked a good dose of vocal tracks on an Enid album, e.g. I rate Earthborn as easily the stand out track on Seed and Sower. Invicta makes me think of it as a kind of fulfillment of the promise for a proper vocal album hinted at by the direction Something Wicked was taking, three decades ago, which never quite came to pass with what came after. 2010's Journey's End was great, I really like Max Read's vocals there. But without wishing to be unkind sounds a bit like a Read suite with a RJG makeover. Invicta has 'band' written all over it. I suppose the quirkiness of the Enid appeals to my own trait in that dept. Perhaps that is why I am enjoying listening to the Invicta tracks in reverse order! (Try it, don't mock it.) I think it works a treat that way, especially when you add 'crossfade' on your pc, with the choral crescendo of One and the Many a fitting finale. Oh, and surely the best Enid cover artwork we've seen! Looks proper proggy and grandiloquent, as befits an Enid product.

Fabulous LP, great music , my LP discovery of 2019.

The Latest release from RJG and the Boys and yet another winner but I cannot say I am surprised..They have been creating winners since 1975/76.

THE ENID est un groupe à part dans l'univers du Rock Progressif. Avec "Invicta", ils réussissent la synthèse presque parfaite entre la musique classique, le rock et le jazz-rock. A ne pas manquer.

Gia dal secondo brano ci si rende conto che si è al cospetto di un grande disco dove gli arrangiamenti sono di altissimo livello con musiche che vanno diritto al cuore, performance eccellente del super vocalis Joe Payne. Un complesso prog che si avvale di una intera orchestra sinfonica e di un coro di molti elementi. Forso il mondo comincia a stancarsi della tecno e delle canzonette e questo è una buona cosa. Cosigliato

1999年に一旦活動停止し、ブランクの８年間を経て、2007年に4人編成で再始動したThe Enid。そこからの歩みも一筋縄ではいかないが、専任ヴォーカリストのジョー・ペインを迎えての2枚目のアルバムとしてリリースされた本作は、まごうことなき新時代The Enidを創出した作品となった。正規の音楽教育を受けたであろう彼は、卓越した歌唱力に加えて、言葉をきわめて音楽的に響かせる作詞センスを持ち合わせており、The Enidの楽曲をこれまでになかった方向に進化させている。その音楽性はまさに「アリア」。オーケストラルな演奏のうえに、叙情的な歌を繰広げていくものだ。 一方で、アンサンブルにも微妙な変化が見られる。強いドラマ性をもつ歌詞が曲を引っ張るようになったためだろうか、アレンジにこれまで以上の広がりが生まれた。このアルバムを代表するトラックである２曲目の「One & The Many」で聴かれるドラマチックに抑制されたものがあれば、魔女狩りをモチーフに人間心理に内在する「排他性」を語る「Witch Hunt」での映像的かつミニマルそれでいて攻撃的な構成を採るもの、ラストトラックの「The Whispering」のアカペラさながらに器楽の存在をぎりぎりまで忘れさせてくれるものがある。しかも全体的な印象としてまさにThe Enidで、多くのファンが納得するであろうシンフォニックな印象を残す。2013年にこれほどの傑作をモノにしてくれるとは、誰が予測しえただろうか？ オリジナルメンバーは、The Enid創始者にしてピアニストのロバート・ジョン・ゴ ドフリーとドラマーのデイブ・ストレイ。この２人に加え、再始動以前からのメンバーであるマルチプレーヤーのマックス・リード、そしてギタリストのジェイソン・ダッカーという５人のメンバーで音楽に関わるすべてが作られている。ちなみに現在のThe EnidはEnidiiという彼らのサイトを通じて、自分たちの作品のネット通販、会員サービス、そしてファンクラブ組織などを運営している。かつて「ヨーロッパ最大のカルトバンド」と呼ばれた彼らは、2015年現在も完全な自主独立路線で、CD製作・リリースからツアーまでのすべて活動を行っている。 オリジナルメンバー2人に対して、彼らの息子の年代のメンバーを加えたことにより、The Enidは新たなピークへと向かい始めたと言えるだろう。

Qué huérfanos estábamos de esto sin Genesis (de Peter Gabriel)

１０年ぐらい前に代表作と思われるアルバム「エアリー・フェアリー・ナンセンス」を１０月の氷ノ山登山に持って行ったら良かったので、その後もエニドの他のアルバムも幾つも入手してみたんだが、タイトル代えてみてもどれも「エアリー・フェアリー・ナンセンス」のほぼ焼き直しなのね。 そういう事もあるだろうし、いやぁ、それは幾ら何でも何時までもそういう訳にはいくまいと、こうして時々拾ってみては聴いてるのだけど、２０００年代に入ってやっと扱うテーマやモチーフに変化が来たみたいで、合唱やオーケストレーションを用いるあのサウンドのエニドでありながら、「エアリー・フェアリー・ナンセンス」とダブり感デジャブ感が薄れたアルバムが２本続けて聴けたという意味で星４つ。 まず「エアリー・フェアリー・ナンセンス」を聴いた上で、エニドの他のアルバムも聴いてみたいという人に、私のようにエニドの後続アルバムでデジャブを味わってる方に。・・・但し「エアリー・フェアリー・ナンセンス」という傑作と比べると、このアルバムは冒頭は良いけど盛り上がりに欠けて尻すぼみであるよ。