RISING SIGNS FROM THE SHADOWS

What? No reviews of this one yet? Knight Area is one of those cases where the band seems to grow with each release. While none of their albums were really masterpieces, I always thought they were gong in the right direction, since they got better and better with the passing of the years. Recently I saw this live album in an imported records store and realise I didn´t even know of its existence. Taking my chances I decided to get it, even if Knight Area was not exactly my favorite band and being a group with only 3 albums, a double live CD at this point seemed to be a little too much. Man, was I wrong...

I guess that everything the group lacked on their studio albums (a more powerful and edgy performances of their excellent material) can be found here. And plenty of it. Two things caught my atention since the first time I listened to this CD: the musical precision of all involved and the stunning delivering of the songs. Ok, the former is expected. After all, this is progressive rock we´re talking about and, usually, the musicians are very skillful and precise, even on stage.. But the latter is definitly not that easy to find. The band plays with such conviction, passion and power I sometimes think they are an entirely different group from the one who actually played on their studio records. Well, not so much, but it does have a difference.And for the better. It´s the kind of CD you put on and, although it is 113 minutes long, it sounds too short.

Everything works here. The tracklist is very well balanced to say the least: not a single weak tune to be found and too many highlights to choose from (although some moments like A million Lives, Dreamweaver, The Sun Also Rises and Mortal Brow should be mentioned as exemples of how powerful they can get on stage). The live sound quality is crystal clear and the band is simply perfect, a great combination of technical accomplishment and emotional delivering through the music. If their songwriting was already good, played live they get a new dimension: bolder, it has more edge and it is overall more convincing than anything they commited on studio. In other words, they were very inspired when they played. Also their Genesis influence is more evident here and that´s a compliment! They already have a very own sound. Special mention goes to the brilliant keyboards waves of mastermind Gerben Klazinga (very much in the vein of Tony Banks around the time of Wind & Wuthering), the excellent guitar lines by Mark Vermeule (melodic, fiery and beautiful), Gijs Koopman´s terrific bass runs (very Chris Squire-ish in style) and Pieter van Hoorn´s precise and versatile drumming. But above all, this is Mark Smit´s finest hour. On stage he proves to be a great and unique singer and the right voice for those outstanding tunes.

With Rising Signs From The Shadows Kinight Area reaches a new level in maturity. This is surely one of the best live albums I´ve heard in a long time and surely on my top ten list of the best things released in 2011 so far. It is not everyday you find a double live album where all the tracks are that good!. If you´re a neo prog fan then this is a must have. If you like melodic prog in general (with a strong Genesis overone without being a copycat) then this is a nice way to get to know this important band from Holland.

Rating: 4.5 stars at least. Highly recommended!!!