KAIPA

After the appalling Wake Of Evolution experience, I though I should give at least one more try at Kaipa music before ultimately writing off this band and all of its related projects. And while I can hear some acceptable music, the tacky emo-pop vocals alone are dreadful enough to forget about this band and its entire offspring for now and eternity.

Musiken Ar Ljuset opens good enough with a lush symphonic sound reminding of Yes and Camel. Vocals come in over a Close to The Edge derived organ part and they confirm that I'll never be a fan of this. It gets worse as the song advances, and the vocal lines go down the shameless crooner pop lane in the second half. It really make me wonder why anyone would call this progressive. It's lame, cheesy and stale. Ok, some tracks have extended instrumental parts that, while entirely un-original, are still enjoyable, but the vocal lines remain dreadfully sentimental throughout. Sounds like Julio Iglesias' Swedish nephew did the vocals on this album.

This is just another 1975 album pointing at the creative decline of progressive rock. Even back then, dressed-up Schlager-pop like this could pass as Prog and nobody complained. No wonder we don't have a clue anymore what Prog means 25 years later. Is it music cloned from real Prog bands with tacky pop vocals replacing the greatness of Hammill and Gabriel? No thanks. Besides, regardless of genre issues, this is a really poor album.