Under The Sun Medford MA

Under The Sun

Under The Sun

Magna Carta Records, 2000

REVIEW BY: Duke Egbert

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 08/30/2000

Those of you who checked out our interview with Kansas' RichWilliams on our sister site, Power Chords, heard the eyepatchedprogressive guitar maven talk about a new band he liked calledUnder The Sun. Needless to say, when Da Boss said that he had theCD and I could review it, I jumped at the chance.

After three listens, I came to only two conclusions: one, I really liked it, and two, it was going to be damned hard toquantify or describe. It's easy to call a band progressive rock;but within that spectrum you can get everything from Gentle Giantto Savatage. Under The Sun is a little bit of both.

Having played together for ten years in Southern California (andwhat is it about California and prog lately? Between Spock's Beardand UTS, there's a lot of good things happening), UTS has a uniquesound. Rush comes to mind in the insistent guitar of Chris Shryackand the bass lines of Kurt Barabas; occasional moments of Kansaspop up in the keyboards of Matt Evidon; and Shryack can do an eerieecho of "Bark At The Moon"-era Ozzy.

Don't let the namedropping fool you, however. UTS has its owndistinctive blend of sound, alternately stark and serene, rich withthe band's eponymous spirituality yet still stinging with impactand edge. Let's call it "damned good" and leave it at that.