‘Under A New Sign’ is the name of the long-time-coming second album by Dutch prog act Knight Area. It has been three years since their debut ‘The Sun Also Rises. and during that time the band honed it’s skills and changed from a studio project into a full fledged band. Upon listening to their music you are reminded of many bands such as Marillion, Arena, IQ, Pendragon and Camel.
On the second album there was some slight changes such as the band’s direction veering towards the prog-metal territory but without being labeled as such. The reason being the music doesn’t carry the ‘in your face’ feel on each song from start to finish. Knight Area uses just the right amount of metallic touch to accent their music.
I will admit to owning the first one and soon departing with it but with this new one, it gels so well with me. It showcases everything I love about the sub-genre of progressive rock called ‘neo’. But that label is limited so I’d say Under A New Sign falls under the ‘modern symphonic progressive rock” genre. Yes a new genre but it describes their sound much better, at least in my opinion.
On whole this is a solid album start to finish which is always a welcomed thing regardless of genre. My favorite tracks are “A Different Man” (part 1 & 2), the instrumental title track and “Mastermind“. The rest is good mind you but these songs get revisited more.
From the opening track "A Different Man", you know that you’re in for a treat. Upon listening you are reminded of bands such as Marillion, Arena, IQ, Pendragon and Camel.
If you enjoy the afore mentioned bands and the debut ‘The Sun Also Rises’, it'll be a no-brainer that you will need to have ‘Under A New Sign’ as soon as possible. It gets a very recommended status from me.
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on June 12th, 2007
