REALM OF SHADOWS

I've always found it somewhat stretchy that Knight Area, with their penchant for AOR and old-school arena rock, insisted on being dark, singing about Dark Souls and Antagonies with the devil in disguise. Well, they manage here to be dark, but not in a heavy or depressing way. Songs like Realm of Shadows or Occlusion have more of a sing-along and melancholic tone instead of menacing, with their "shadow world" being more of a fading copy of our reality rather that its dark alternative. If that makes sense. On the other hand, Antagony and A Million Lives (first one rockier, second - slower) have an anthemic arena attribute to them. All in all, while being sure-fire neo-prog, Knight Area still manage to sound like Knight Area, instead of a mere clone of earlier bands.