A couple of years ago, it was 2000 actually, I was totally blown away by the excellent concept album Signs Of Life by US melodic rock band The Sign. The story about a young girl named Aryon - nothing to do with Arjen Lucassen whatsoever - dealing with the pressures of growing up in the modern world, being tempted to explore the dangerous dark side of the world immediately got me hooked. The great melodies and the emotional harmonies were brought to perfection. Now the story continues... The Second Coming is the suitable title for part II of the Aryon story. Personally I wouldn’t have mind when the band had come up with an album close to the first when the music is concerned. They didn’t and I have to admit that this caused a slight disappointment at first listening. The Sign clearly moved into a rougher approach, a direction, given in by the experiences of Aryon I presume.

The many soft, delightful and emotional melodies on act one are replaced by some progressive disharmonies and instrumental outbursts. As often these concept albums are difficult to judge when you’re listening to them for the first time, but when the music finally catches on and you’re able to fit the music with the story line, the beauty of the album unfolds. Instead of melody, The Second Coming seems to be more orientated on rhythm. The melodic aspects are deduced to the keyboards and the vocals, the lead vocals by Terry Brock as well as the backing vocals by several band members. The Sign Of Life was considered one of the best albums of 2000 in the melodic / adult orientated rock scene, I wonder if The Second Coming will make it to many year lists, simply because 2004 has only got one or two weeks left and that’s probably not enough time to rightfully judge this album.