THE RPWL LIVE EXPERIENCE

On February 16th and 17th 2009, Metal Mind Productions put together another festival of fine prog bands in Katowice, Poland. Apart from near neighbours RPWL from Germany, DeeExpus, Shadowlands, and Tinyfish were among the bands who performed on those two nights, and DVDs of the performances all these bands have now been released.

This fine set brings us RPWL's gig in all its glory, featuring no less than fourteen songs plus some fine extras. There are a couple of line up variations to report, with Marc Tauriaux stepping in on drums and Markus Fehle adding extra keyboards. All four of the band's studio albums are covered, the night also featuring a couple of Pink Floyd related surprises (of which more later). Favourites such as "Hole In The Sky", "Breathe In, Breathe Out", and "3 Lights" are all placed up front in the running order making for a remarkably strong opening gambit.

The Floydian, or to be more precise Gilmourian, influences are apparent, especially in the superb guitar work, but the overall feel is more akin to bands such as Pendragon, Pallas, IQ and Final Conflict. The band's insistence on capturing strong melodies and lush pleasing sounds makes this a very easy listen, but one which simultaneously demands the listener's full attention. On tracks such as the wonderful "Silenced", one can find oneself unknowingly carried to the most delightful soundscapes, such is the sublime beauty of the guitar and keyboard breaks.

The band show their lighter side with the self depreciating "This is not a prog song" from their latest studio album, which perversely must be a potential hit single! The song segues into a brief rendition of John Fogerty's "Rockin' all over the world" (the song made famous by Status Quo) and a couple of further diversions. Who said Germans don't have a sense of humour!?

The aforementioned Pink Floyd surprises include covers of Syd Barrett's solo track "Opel"(from RPWL's "Stock" compilation) and the early Pink Floyd song "Biding my time". A highlight later in the set is the anthemic "Roses", a song originally featuring Ray Wilson on guest vocals, but heard here for the first time with Yogi Lang singing it himself.

The gig runs to about 1 hour 40 minutes, the production and sound qualities being of the usual superb standard we now expect from Metal Mind. The extras include an interview (in English) with vocalist and keyboards player Yogi Lang and guitarist Karlheinz Wallner. We also have a video clip for "Breathe in, breathe out" and some brief tour footage from 2006.

In all, an excellent set captured perfectly in terms of audio and video quality. Both fans of the band and those with a casual interest in them would be well advised to consider this DVD an essential acquisition.

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