THE SUN ALSO RISES

Knight Area's debut album is a dark and intoxicating slab of neo-prog reminiscent of a fusion of the likes of Arena and post-Ever IQ. What particularly impresses me is that despite not really having a consistent lineup on any of the songs - at this stage Knight Area was pretty much a Gerben Klazinga solo project with a small army of guest musicians helping out - there's a very consistent and coherent style from song to song, a testament both to Gerben's songwriting and to the careful production job the album benefits from.

On the whole, most fans of neo-prog will welcome Knight Area as a brand new band playing a fairly purist style of neo-prog. At the same time, I find that the album doesn't quite stand up to repeated listenings - there's a lot of bombast here as Knight Area try to assert their prog credentials, the vocals are a little shaky, and the songwriting is not as tight as it could be.