UNDER A NEW SIGN

Knight Area's second release is awesome, hmm, perhaps that's a little too strong, but certainly a contender, in my opinion perhaps the best release of the year so far. Many references to their forebears - Genesis, Rutherford, (A Different Man is very Renaissance sounding - melody, vocal and style); amongst others, vocals are arguably stronger reminding me of Wolfstone's vocalist in sound (Sorry - no bad thing...). There is a heavier overtone to the whole when compared their former release.

Very percussive at times perhaps a little over exuberantly at times but with repeated listening this becomes less apparent. (Mastermind falls into this category; the drums are perhaps too complex...). Jazz overtones are again present throughout both with the chord structure and the improvisation.

The second verse of Exit LUMC appears to have a late entry by the singer, each time I listen to it, it becomes more apparent...

Courteous Love whilst a wistful song uses the cello very effectively (for those who are aware of Icon's output might find this vaguely familiar). The outro with bass pedals with its wonderful soaring keyboards put this track well beyond Icon.

Dreamweaver is a return to the Renaissance bass and the power drumming. Culminating with A Different Man Part II, finishing where the album started, in fact with the system on repeat the last and first tracks blend seamlessly. After the gentle start the track begins to 'wind' up in a style also reminiscent of Wolfstone both musically and vocally, the final part however, is very powerful, after a quiet segue it erupts in a prolonged series of descending power chords that continue to crescendo.

When compared to the first album this second release is far superior, unlike so many who fail to live up to expectations, here Knight Area have succeeded, since the first album was awarded 4 stars, this is at least a 4.5 so for the archives I'll round this to a 5. With the other reviews this album will be sure to attract the final figure will be around the 4.5 mark.