HYPERDRIVE

Every prog band once in a while flirts with streamlining their sound. I've always thought that Knight Area, with their mix of neo-prog, hard rock, AOR, synth-pop and a classical influence here and there, was apt for this kind of crossover. But they managed to surprise me for a couple of albums, still doing 8 to 10-minute romps. Well now they did it. This is a hard rock/AOR album, with singer Mark Smits evoking the huskiness seen in the likes of John Wetton. Afraid of the Dark immediately hits you with a stratospheric, metallic/70s sound with ultramelodic singing. In fact this could be called a hard-rocking version of Asia or Journey, comparable to recent offers by Arena and Threshold. A hard rock that, in line with its adultness, is pompous, slow and stately.