KEYHOLDER

Kaipa´s follow up to the excellent Notes From The Past is less melodic and more experimental than the previous efford. Still, it is very good. It is almost as if Roine Stolt is doing better now with his side projects than with his main band, The Flower Kings. The vocals are shared by Patrick Lundström (male) and Aleena (female), both very good singers. Not everyone´s cup of tea, for sure, but I like them both. The sound has some similarities to the Flower Kings, but actually only as a matter of style and reference. After all, this group did exist before TFK, so this is no surprise. Hans Lundin proves himself a very good songwriter and keyboards player, I really love his 70´s sounding instruments a lot.

Although Keyholder is less accessible than Notes From The Past I must say I enjoyed it a lot. If you like the swedish symphonic prog go for it! Or if you think Roine Stolt´s main band is not delivering those classic records as they did in the 90´s, try Kaipa. You might be surprised and pleased as I did. I´m glad kaipa came back and made it really worthwhile. Most great bands did not.