Kaipa Kaipa

2015, This Swedish outfit's claim to fame is that it had The Flower King's Roine Stolt as their guitarist while still an adolescent. Unfortunately, Stolt's presence does not rescue this outfit from being somewhat cliche ridden. Where the musicians are not without talent they had yet to develop any true sense of originality. Their sound is not unlike Australia's Sebastian Hardy although the musicianship there was not quite as strong as Kaipa. The vocals are perhaps the weakest quality of the band. Vocals are consistently in the higher registers and are solely in Swedish. Unlike, say Italian, Swedish is much more difficult a language to enjoy if one does not speak it. Stolt's playing holds some promise but gives little indication that he would move on to the brilliance he displayed in The Flower Kings.