Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography

THE RPWL EXPERIENCE

RPWL

Neo-Prog


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

RPWL The RPWL Experience album cover
3.47 | 190 ratings | 8 reviews | 13% 5 stars

Good, but non-essential

Write a review

Buy RPWL Music
from Progarchives.com partners
Studio Album, released in 2008

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Silenced (9:52)
2. Breathe In, Breathe Out (3:52)
3. Where Can I Go? (7:19)
4. Masters of War (6:17)
5. This Is Not a Prog Song (5:35)
6. Watch Myself (6:00)
7. Stranger (8:32)
8. River (7:52)
9. Choose What You Want to Look At (5:04)
10. Turn Back the Clock (6:37)

Total Time 67:00

Bonus tracks on 2008 SE:
8. Alone and Scared (3:30)
12. Reach for the Sun (7:33)

Line-up / Musicians

- Yogi Lang / vocals, keyboards, producer & mixing
- Karlheinz Wallner / guitars
- Chris Postl / bass
- Manfred Müller / drums

With:
- Bine Heller / vocals
- Mark Anderton / vocals
- Markus Jehle / keyboards (live)

Releases information

CD Tempus Fugit ‎- SPV 79722 CD (2008, Germany)
CD Tempus Fugit ‎- SPV 79720 CD (2008, Germany) SE with 2 bonus tracks

Thanks to Rivertree for the addition
and to projeKct for the last updates
Edit this entry

Buy RPWL The RPWL Experience Music



RPWL The RPWL Experience ratings distribution


3.47
(190 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(13%)
13%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(45%)
45%
Good, but non-essential (33%)
33%
Collectors/fans only (9%)
9%
Poor. Only for completionists (0%)
0%

RPWL The RPWL Experience reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by erik neuteboom
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars

Special Edition with 2 bonus track

Many years back I witnessed a RPWL gig during a Dutch progrock festival, I can remember the very Floydian inspired guitarplay. While listening to this new CD I can trace some Floydian guitarwork like in Watch Myself Sleeping (dreamy, then more lush and compelling) but more in the vein of Pink Floyd after Roger Waters his departure. The other 11 compositions sound like a blend of progressive pop, rock and symphonic, very modern and professional. In general the climates change from mellow (featuring twanging guitars, soaring keyboards and pleasant vocals) to compelling and bombastic. At some moments we can enjoy majestic violin-Mellotron eruptions like in Where Can I Go?, I Watch Myself Sleeping and Stranger (tight beat and biting wah-wah drenched guitar). I am mostly pleased with the captivating first song Silenced (almost 10 minutes): a propulsive guitar riff, a part with acoustic rhythm guitar and vocals, fat electronic sounds, a Floydian oriented synthesizer solo and sensitive guitar work.

On this new CD RPWL sounds dynamic and modern, this year they will go on tour and visit countries, from Germany, Belgium and Holland to Poland and even the USA, I am sure they will delight the progheads who like modern prog. My rating: 3,5 stars.

Review by progrules
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars So far my only acqaintance with this band was the streamtrack on PA called Opel from their 2003 compilation. I wasn't blown away by it to say the least but decided to give them a try with their 2008 release. After all it's neo prog and I want to check these kind of bands out.

First song appeared to be a true highlight after a few listens of the entire album. It's the almost 10 minute clocking slightly epical Silenced. The song is already pretty good for the first 6,5 minutes but the last 3 or so are almost mindblowing to me. Fantastic climax of a very good song (4,25*). After such an overture you always hope it's the prelude for a great album but that's not the case I can give away already. It's a versatile album in style and quality and I'm not sure if I am too pleased with that. But it is what it is and I will have to live with it I'm afraid.

Second is Breathe in, Breathe out and this song is less compelling than the opener. This song shows that RPWL is actually a borderline case of prog, it's almost pop-like at times but we will come back to that later ! This song is the first example of that but it's a good song anyway (3,25*).

Where can I go ? is actually a song in the same vein as previous, a lot longer though and therefore it seems proggier but I'm not really convinced. The song has the same sort of flatness their compatriots Sylvan show in many of their songs. At the end the song gets a bit better (3,25*).

Masters of War is a bit of a slow song and after some 3 minutes it starts to resemble On the Turning Away by Pink Floyd a lot. It's hard even to listen through it without keeping thinking about it all the time. It's probably the rhythm that's for a big part responsable for the resemblance (3,5*).

With the 5th I will come back to my promise in the second song where I said I would come back to the statement of this bands poppiness. Here they admit this themselves with the funny title This is not a Prog Song and in the lyrics they even refer to Pink Floyd which proves my statement in previous song. A very honest song in the sense of what this band is about obviously. And even though this indeed is not a prog song it sounds quite nice (3,25*).

I watch myself Sleeping is a slower track again and here they fall back in their flatness I fear. It's all pretty accessible what this band does. Except for the vocals it resembles Coldplay every now and then, not quite an insult in my opinion but another proof of the borderline progressiveness of RPWL (3*).

Next the second longest track, called Stranger. This is more of a versatile and much more progressive song with some great rock elements as well as more quiet parts. Second highlight on this album, great track (4*).

After this, the shortest track, Alone and Scarred, is a sort of remix of several other songs, bit spacey and messy, not really RPWL I would say. But ok, obviously they felt like producing this (3*). Appears to be a bonus track by the way. Strangely placed somewhere in the middle of the album (??)

Talk to the River is a fine ballad and they prove they can also do something like this (3,25*).

Choose what you want to look at is a fast and furious one and proves to be a track of my liking. Though most songs are accessible I must admit it's not a boring and monotonous album. Good song this (3,5*).

Turn back the clock is again more ballad-like another less interesting one at first until towards the end two fine guitar solos saves it a bit and makes it end up in a good song in the end (3,25*).

Reach for the Sun is another bonus track, another more quiet and slow song and alas another flat one (3*).

After doing the maths it appears what I was already afraid of: right in the middle of 3 and 4 stars. I was already puzzled about what I was going to give it and it's indeed a headache case. I'm afraid I will have to round down for three reasons: first, the exact average is 3,45. Second, the bonus tracks don't really lift the album and third reason, the description of a 4 star rating is: excellent album to ANY prog collection and that is not the case here. Good but non essential (3 stars) sounds better but the album is surely better than this description. And I would still recommend it to lovers of the more prog related category.

Latest members reviews

3 stars I heard RPWL described once as prog-lite. While it is indeed true that they are at ease with synthesizer-lush pleasant-sounding tunes with Pink Floydian overtones (the atmospherics and both the clean and stratospheric guitar work), see Turn back the clock. But here they both mix it up with some ... (read more)

Report this review (#1114353) | Posted by Progrussia | Tuesday, January 14, 2014 | Review Permanlink

5 stars One of the Prog Masterpiece ! This album is definitely one of the masterpieces in my thousands of prog rock album collection. This is not because the singer sounds like Pink Floyd but because their music is simply the one that strikes everybody who likes "music". If you hear this album, surel ... (read more)

Report this review (#914666) | Posted by Katsuhisa | Saturday, February 16, 2013 | Review Permanlink

4 stars What an album! RPWL was brand new to me when I first picked up this album. It is definitely more mainstream than some may like,but I am a sucker for a great melody. That is where I feel this album really delivers. After listening to the album, you find yourself humming the melodies for the res ... (read more)

Report this review (#198462) | Posted by KayleighsDad | Sunday, January 11, 2009 | Review Permanlink

2 stars When a band chooses to call an album The [insert band name here] Experience, you would expect that they are offering up their best work to date. Unfortunately, RPWL fails to deliver on this, their auspiciously- titled fourth full-length album. To be fair, the band faced a daunting tas ... (read more)

Report this review (#171135) | Posted by rangerm13 | Thursday, May 15, 2008 | Review Permanlink

2 stars This one was a bad Experience for me. I loved rpwl when they stayed close to Pink Floyd. In this one they try to Experience with songs not so related to the space rock of PF. I think that the changes were for worst. Awful song This is not another prog......(they say our songs are like PF ... (read more)

Report this review (#163362) | Posted by robbob | Friday, March 7, 2008 | Review Permanlink

4 stars I was lucky enough to get an advance ciopy of this record and I can't wait for the real thing. I think knowing how well they've studied Pink Floyd helps me appreciate what's happening. Pink Floyd is, more than any other band, the reason I started to like, not just progressive, but ALL music. ... (read more)

Report this review (#162305) | Posted by mpomy | Thursday, February 21, 2008 | Review Permanlink

Post a review of RPWL "The RPWL Experience"

You must be a forum member to post a review, please register here if you are not.

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.