THE SUN ALSO RISES

The Dutch symphonic/neo progressive rock band Knight Area quickly became one of Holland's main progressive attractions. Whilst making some solid neo-prog records, the band has an excellent live performance. Finally a band that blessed itself by acquiring a talented sound-crew that would ensure live success, even at the point that this was a seven-men band. Not only did Knight Area have the right sound, they could easily perform the material played in the studio and had several members that looked good on stage.

The debut album 'The Sun also Rises' was one of my first progressive rock records and I can still listen to it today, thought my shift to 'classic prog' has had huge influence on my musical tastes. On the debut, Knight Area was more like an extended project then a band (just look at that list of musicians). The compositions are however solid and the band succeeds in combing a modern sound with intelligent, original song-writing that still have that sticky effect that makes the listener want to return. The vocals of Mark Smit are often in the higher regions, and he surely is one talented vocalist for progressive rock! When listening to this album I miss some of his power he unleashed during the liver performances, but it's still great. The guitars of Peter van Heijningen are strong and some of his melodic lines are daring and give the music a welcome seriousness and toughness. Otherwise, the band has a slight tendency to loose itself in slight cheesiness (something a lot of people seem to like more then me).

Songs that stand out for me are the epical 'The gate of eternity', the strong instrumental title track (I like the multi-section approach), 'Conviction' and 'Mortal Brow'.

The album was recorded at Knight Area's own studio, which also is a professional studio for other bands. I myself am not too fond of the midi-keyboard and digital guitar amplification approach, but the music sounds full and clean.

Conclusion. This is a strong debut for one of my home-country finest modern progressive bands. I recommend it to fans of neo and symphonic progressive rock. Big three and a halve stars.

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