KNIGHT AREA

Well, as a fan of the first hour I have followed Knight Area during the years and often seen the band. I consider the third CD Realm Of Shadows from 2009 as their best effort. Then gradually Knight Area turned into a more heavy sounding band, with echoes from early Dream Theater. From that moment I lost Knight Area, despite the fact that in 2014 Dutch legend Peter Vink (Q65 and Finch) replaced Gijs Koopman. Recently I got in touch with prime mover Gerben Klazinga who send me the new album D-Day, from 2019. This 7th studio-album fearures new singer Jan Willem Ketelaers, he worked with Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon) and Robby Valentine (who is also a guest musician on this new Knight Area album).

On this new Knight Area album the band delivers very accessible melodic hardrock that borders with prog metal, bands like Queensryche, Savatage, Ayreon and Dream Theater come to my mind. It's far away from the sound on the debut album The Sun Also Rises, but I am impressed the way Knight Area presents the dramatic D-Day concept in the 10 compositions. The approach is very song-oriented with the focus on new singer JW Ketelaers (powerful and a good range) and excellent guitarist Mark Bogert (he easily switches from lots of Satriani/Vai-like blistering and biting runs to moving like Andy Latimer (Omaha Beach) or classical guitar like Steve Howe (March To Victory). Gerben Klazinga his keyboards are often functional (many beautiful orchestral layers) but at some moments he shines with runs on the synthesizer (The Landing and Wings Of Time) or waves of Hammond organ (Overlord). The rhythm-section does a good job, often propelling the heavy sound.

The songs are embellished with some captivating musical ideas, like the voices of Eisenhower and Churchill, the lyrics of a psalm, and the sound of militairy drums, all tributing to an atmosphere that matches with the dramatic subject D-Day. Another strong element is the use of dynamics, lots of heavy parts but also some slowdowns, in order to create tension. The song When I'll Be With You even features only Robby Valentine his tender Grand piano and JW Ketelaers his melancholical vocals, simply wonderful. The final track Freedom for Everyone is dedicated to the victims of the socalled Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, as a psychiatric nurse I have often seen what war does to the mental health of young soldiers, devastating! In this song Knight Area succeeds to create a very compelling atmosphere that matches with the changes of the mental state: first dreamy with warm vocals and twanging guitar, then moving guitar, strong vocals with emotional undertone and lots of fiery guitar runs (like a 'Heavy Howe') in a bombastic climate, what a strong conclusion of an impressive album.

If you are up to this heavy and accessible sounding Knight Area with its song-oriented approach, and a focus on powerful vocals and harder-edged guitar work I am sure this album will delight you, well done Dutchmen!

The re-recordings are ok, they don´t differ too much from their original versions, except for the slightly louder guitar and bass parts. This and Bubble hint the new direction towards a more hard rock sound, but not much. This Day could be in any of their earlier stuff, so I guess if I had listened to Between Two Steps before Hyperdrive I would have no clue that they would change their original symphonic neo prog sound that much. Even the only new track that did not made to the next CD, Xerenity, is quite the same style as before. A pity that it is so short (barely over the two minute mark).

Rather than a taster for their new sound, Between Two Steps is more like a sad goodbye to their golden years.

Rating: 2,5 stars.

Of course I expected them to keep leaning a little more towards the classic symphonic progressive sound they were courting since the very beginning. Alas, that was not to be, although Knight Area did not shed their trademark sound altogether. The opening track Don´t Be Afraid Of The Dark was quite misleading since its heavy guitar riffing and atmospheric keys seemed to indicate they decided to take a progressive metal approach, but that does not repeat on the remaining songs, although the guitar sound is indeed more upfront and heavier than before and the keyboards do take a kind of back-seat on several tunes, but not on all of them. On the plus side their knack for writing melodic tunes was still intact: whether you like or not their new instrumental take, the songs are very good. And in many ways I keep loving some of the stuff: Avenue Of Broken Dreams is a good example (it has a mini-moog sounding solo that is as brilliant as anything they have done in the past). Living In Confusion and Running Away are also songs that could sit comfortably side by side with tracks from any of their best moments. Still the lingering feeling after all these years is still the same: an hybrid album, with some excellent tracks bearing their old sound and some that sound a little forced and/or out of place.

So in the end I cannot shake off this feeling of strangeness. A (good) progressive band trying to sound "simpler" or "modern" for the wrong reasons. Or maybe my expectations were just too high after a string of fine albums that had a firm sense of direction, something this one does not. And even if none of the songs are bad or even weak, the production is right and the performances are spotless and tasteful, this is not a CD that is very convincing. A lack of identity? This is the main point here: For, individually, I like all of the tunes. Together they simply don´t work as a whole. A band that lost their bearings, not their talent. Wish I could say more.

Rating: 3 stars.

For some reason I have always thought The Sun Also Rises was a kind of good, but derivative record, with the band still finding its way. Upon listening to it after all these years I found that this reasoning was wrong: although one could hardly called the music here challenging, the sound was already very much their own by the time they decided to put their stuff on record. Looking at the credits we see a band that was changing members during the recording of this album. However, the album flow is very even and you can´t tell the struggles they might have been facing. With absolute no fillers, Knight Area delivers a CD that is full of great songs, beautiful melodies and tasteful arrangements. I really love those Hackett/Gilmour/Rothery-like emotional guitar solos, the Banks-ish keyboards sounds, the tight rhythm section and their strong sense of melody. Mark Smit may not be the best singer around, but his delivering is more than adequate and quite convincing. Although the music here is not that original, their songwriting is far superior than most bands and it is no wonder they delivered so many excellent records in the next years.

It is hard to point a highlight, since the whole CD is beautiful and strong, but my favourites are the powerful Conspiracy and the fantastic title track with its guitar/keys duels. With a very good production for the time, The Sun Also Rises is one of the best debuts of any neo prog bands I´ve seen in many years. And I´m glad I had the opportunity to rediscover this gem I had forgotten in my collection. If you like fantastic melodies, vintage sounding keys and superb performances you can not miss this one.

Rating: 4,5 stars. Highly recommended!

The line up for this album consists of Gerben Klazinga on keyboards, Jan Willem Ketelaers on lead vocals, Mark Bogert on guitar, Pieter van Hoorn on drums and Peter Vink on bass. The album is available on CD and digitally.

The album starts with the introductory track "New Horizon" (6:29) which sees the music beginning a little bit lightly as the main focus here is a spoken word section, a speech meant to rally troops, and then the music builds, interspersing heaviness and drama effectively with guitars and synths, upbeat and powerful. The vocals are perfect for the style of music, and the music is definitely Neo-prog with a bit of heaviness to it. After some vocals, the last part of the track features more spoken word recordings, this time the famous speech by Churchill. "Overlord" (5:10) continues with the heavy/neo prog sound, this time with a section that features the rapid fire drumming style that approaches djent territory, but this is just used to build up tension and to amp the atmosphere, which works quite well.

"Blood on the Risers" (5:07) starts more hesitantly with heavy synth layers and then the heavy/neo prog sound starts again, but with the synths driving more of the sound this time. It also features some counterpunctual vocal layering in the chorus. Even though it is still a moderate tempo, the music still has that heavy underlayer and a dramatic guitar riff and solo in the instrumental break. It all ends with military singing. "The Landing" (4:58) is a slow ballad of someone singing to their child to comfort them in their vacancy because of being called to war. The music intensifies later to a faster tempo and heavier sound. The track is quite powerful with emotional vocals.

"Omaha Beach" (6:01) is also an emotional track, this time remaining slow through the verses. Later in the track there is some great guitar work. "Rememberance" (4:05) picks things up in tempo again, and returns the heavier element to the music with guitar riffs taking charge, embellished by keys. "When I'll Be With You" (3:44) is a piano-drenched ballad with vocals, very emotional again, and quite full of power, but maybe a bit too sentimental. "Wings of Time" (4:35) brings on the dramatic riffs with rapid fire drumming and heavy guitars, with a slower bridge and instrumental break that is shared by both guitars and keys after the prayer of a soldier. It reflects a slow march to victory and approaches a cinematic style.

"March to Victory" (7:45) begins the English broadcast of the German's signing their surrender and the declaration that the attention of the war will now be devoted to winning against the Japanese. Two minutes in, the music finally starts with triumphant synth riffs and a moderate beat and vocal melody. The chorus again features the main melody with another vocal layered in providing counterpoint. A nice interlude with piano and soft guitar comes in during the instrumental break, later, when the drums come back in, there is a great synth solo, then more soft guitar after before returning to the chorus. The last track is "Freedom for Everyone" (6:50) is a more stately style track as it wraps up the feeling of victory and the overall prize that is won.

So, overall, it's a decent album that leans more to the Neo-prog side, but also uses healthy doses of Heavy Prog to help portray the subject. The handling of the subject is more interested in the victorious side of war and not so much the dark side of war which is the reality that surviving veterans have to live with in their memories. In that respect, it is unfortunately too sentimental more than it is realistic. In other words, it takes on the more rhetorical side of war, with freedom for all being the prize, mostly ignoring what the cost it took to gain that prize, that some people have to continue to pay a high price for gaining that prize and ignoring the fact that those people are largely ignored by the public and government because of the false hope that the prize will be enough for those women and men that have to fight with mental illness for the rest of their lives from the experience. But, anyway, for the purposes of the positive side of war, it's a good album and the music is effective in that respect. The message isn't really the right message that I would expect in the realities of war, but for the message the music is trying to convey, it is pretty good, and as for the music alone, it's a 4-star affair. But, war is never the best solution as the cost is much higher than we tend to believe.

The nine alternating and pleasant compositions (between 2 and 12 minutes) again sound very accessible and melodic. And again we can enjoy a blend of 24-carat symphonic rock (in the vein of 76-77 Genesis), neo-prog (like early IQ and Pallas) and more song oriented progrock. The climates shift from dreamy (with tender piano and passionate vocals) to powerful mid-tempo rhythms (with fiery guitar runs and fat synthesizer flights) and bombastic (with lush keyboards and Moog Taurus bass pedals). In many songs the focus is on excellent guitar work (from sensitive to biting), often supported by the distinctive sound of the Hammond organ and the unsurpassed Mellotron. Knight Area is at their artistic pinnacle in the track Momentum: from a swinging bass with violin-Mellotron to a Vinage Keyboard Heaven, featuring swirling Moog and impressive choir-Mellotron, goose bumps! Also the long final composition Occlusion showcases the huge potential of Knight Area, what a cascade of shifting moods, breaks and exciting solos. And what a breathtaking grand finale, including Moog Taurus bass pedals and choir-Mellotron, I am in Vintage Progheaven! Knight Area their progrock is a fine balance between showing skills and melody, this third album is a very strong example.

So just because the band has completely changed their style would not necessarily make this a bad album if the songs were good. But I found very little in the way of memorable melodies or even catchy riffs. Instead, in many cases here, the guitarist just tries to show you how many notes he can play in his solos. Now I must admit there are some good moments on the album, but most of the time, just when I thought a song was developing into something good, it ends abruptly or fades out.

So now with two consecutive disappointing albums, Knight Area will have to prove to me in the future that they still have what it takes to produce a fine progressive rock album. Sorry, but overall Heaven and Beyond does nothing for me.

As this is Knight Area's first live DVD, fans of the band in general and those who treasure their 2014 album "Hyperdrive" in particular come across as the main audience for this live production. And while I wouldn't advise those who want to become more familiar with the band in itself to opt for this release as a good introduction, those who generally are intrigued by bands that mix their neo progressive rock with hard rock and progressive metal might find this set of live CD and DVD to merit a check.

In April 2015, Netherlands based Knight Area played live in Katowice Poland, supporting the excellent Arena. Their performance was captured by Metal Mind Productions, who in recent years have set the standard for DVD releases of this type.

'Hyperlive' finds the band performing their 2014 album 'Hyperdrive' in its entirety, with the exception of the track 'This day'. It may perhaps be that the song was included in the performance, but dropped due to time constraints. The band's focus throughout is on ensuring a tight rendition of the album, focusing on the strong melodies that prevail in the original recording. It appears that lead vocalist Mark Smit is the only singer in the band, thus the fine harmony vocals appear to also be by Smit and either mixed in from tape live or added in the post edit. While this certainly embellishes the live performance, it does raise the old chestnut about how 'live' a live set should be.

Regardless of that, this is a fine presentation which offers a great first sight for many of us of a first rate prog band. Musically, there are hints of Marillion and Pendragon among others, but there is at the same time a refreshing originality to the band's music. Smit's voice is particularly appealing, and fits the style of music well. There are plenty of extended keyboards and guitar breaks from Gerben Klazinga and Mark Bogert respectively.

The set is rounded off by a fine 16 minute medley of tracks from all the band's previous albums to date plus a 10 minute rendition of 'Mortal Blow' from 'The sun also rises'. A lot of thought has been put into the medley, which takes in extracts from eight different songs, but sounds like a complete work in its own right.

The DVD is completed by the usual interviews (in English), photographic and text based extras and accompanied by a CD containing the entire live performance. The digipak sleeve is well presented, with some fine artwork. Overall, a highly enjoyable experience that will hopefully open up the band to a wider audience.