Kaipa
Keyholder

Perhaps not everyone knows that the musical adventure of the Swedish guitarist Roine Stolt began well before the formation of the now famous (at least in the progressive realm) The Flower Kings. In fact, in 1975, the then very young Roine was the guitarist of the band called Kaipa, led by the more experienced keyboardist Hans Lundin, and in that very year, they released the self-titled beautiful debut album, a true masterpiece of symphonic rock. Still with Kaipa, Stolt recorded two other albums of perhaps slightly lower quality than the first but nevertheless indispensable in a good level prog discography: "Inget Nytt Under Solen" and "Solo", released respectively in 1976 and 1978. After the early '80s, in which Kaipa recorded two more albums ("Hander" and "Nattdjurstid", which I have never listened to...), the group disbanded.

Stolt's return to the prog scene, which occurred in 1994 with the release under his name of the beautiful album "The Flower King", marked the beginning of a phase of exuberance and hyper-creative activity for the Swedish guitarist. The following decade, in fact, saw Stolt founding The Flower Kings, producing solo albums, participating in the groups Transatlantic, Karmakanic, The Tangent, and finally, the reformation of Kaipa. The historic group currently includes only Stolt and Lundin from the original line-up and benefits from the collaboration of Jonas Reingold, bassist also with the Flower Kings, Patrik Lundstrom, singer from fellow Swedes Ritual, drummer Morgan Ågren and singer Aleena.

The beautiful come-back album, "Notes From The Past" (from 2002), is entirely composed by Lundin even though, stylistically, a clear "flowerkingization" of the compositions is evident, a direct consequence, perhaps, of Stolt's overwhelming personality. The unstoppable compositional streak of the latter must also have infected the good Lundin not only from a qualitative but also a quantitative point of view, if, after only one year, the second album of the "new era" is already released. "Keyholder" thus places itself directly in the wake of the previous one and represents its ideal continuation as its peculiar characteristics are more or less the same: a style strongly influenced by the Flower Kings, beautiful melodies characterized by the alternations and intertwining vocals performed by two great singers, complex and varied arrangements, beautiful sounds, and excellent recording quality.

In short, another beautiful album that I can only warmly recommend, obviously not to those who are unbreakably tied only to the '70s (and thus to the Kaipa of that period) but certainly to those who have appreciated the previous album or, in any case, to those who like the Flower Kings.