No longer quite as reliant upon over-amplifying the most heavily adjusted setting to his distortion pedal or digital echo box, Dave Peace advances the sound on "New Lands" by incorporating percussion on the majority of the tracks comprising his third full-length release, and completely striking any meditative acoustic passage from this CD, the first in "Phase Two" of Flying Saucer Attack. Gone are the vast and infinite soundscapes from "Further" and "Chorus"; there is more of an emphasis on rough-hewn guitar ambience here. I feel there is a tendency to locate "New Lands" in its own special little niche as a result, but I can't help hearing echoes of their first (and self-titled) full-length here, specifically "My Dreaming Hill", "Make Me Dream", "Still", and "The Season is Ours", though without the percussive element present here. "New Lands" lacks the warmth and expansiveness that characterized much of "Distance", "Further", and "Chorus", and while it may initially have been a sensitive issue after the first run-through each of the tracks, repeated listening helps divulge the antecedent for its musical direction. It does break new ground for the band, albeit in tinier spadefuls than their three prior releases would have had a dedicated listener of FSA forecast.