What an impressive release from this german band! RPWL's latest album, Start The Fire - Live is outstanding! RPWL's history began around 2000, with the release of their first CD accompanied by appearances at festivals and an extensive european tour, and they have been gaining in popularity worldwide ever since. This album should get them noticed on this side of the Atlantic! A good definition of the sound of the group would be: "RPWL is what Pink Floyd would have sounded like today if they would have still been together" and they are indeed heavily influenced by the late era Pink Floyd, sounding a bit like Porcupine Tree at times, but still with a great sound of their own, and really good, catchy compositions. Threshold and late Marillion would also come to mind in the similarities / influences department. Progressive, symphonic, psychedelic, metallic... this two-CD live album makes you go through all of these musical styles and more! it just sounds plain amazing.

The first track, Sleep, has some obvious Porcupine Tree influence, with subtle eastern influences on the percussion side. A great composition with great guitar work. Yogi Lang's vocals are a bit softer, deeper, more intense than on previous albums. Then, on to the title track of the album, Start The Fire (which appears in its studio version on this year's World Through My Eyes) which is a rocky, catchy tune with nice rhythms, you'll snap your fingers on this one. The following track Who Do You Think We Are, has a bit of a late Beatles ballad sound, but then features the Floydiest (new word?) guitar work you can imagine, really showing Kalle Wallner's uncanny similarity to Gilmour's sound. Day on My Pillow is a nice, harmless little ballad, with a little tribute to Genesis' I Know What I Like in the middle, then building towards an edgy, powerful end. Roses features ex-Genesis singer Ray Wilson, and sounds a bit like a heavier version of something you would have found on Genesis' last album Calling All Stations... pretty good! Wilson is a great singer and this song fits his vocals to a tee, another catchy tune that will get your toes tappin', again with some splendid guitar work. Not about Us, also sung by Ray Wilson is indeed the Calling All Stations track from Genesis, and a nice version of it too. The Gentle Art of Swimming makes no excuses at being one of the most heavily modern-Floyd-influenced track, an aggressive, dark track with mellotrons and spacy guitar effects, a brilliant composition which stands out for me. Wasted Land has a great rhythm, great keyboards. Crazy lane is a quiet, dramatic ballad with melancholic guitars and nice lyrics. Trying to Kiss the Sun is a quirky, wacky little track, with an unusual background of wind instruments and great guitars à la Tom Petty, great melody, and a good conclusion to disk one.

Disk two is truly a tribute to Pink Floyd, RPWL's main influence. The first track, which is the name of their last studio effort (and of the tour from which these live recordings come from), World Through My Eyes is a bit psychedelic, a bit dark and dramatic, something you might have found on Meddle, or Ummagumma... great bluesy inspired guitar work like Gilmour's early work. Tracks two, three and four are classic Pink Floyd compositions: the Barrett-era track Opel, Cymbaline from the album More and the Water-era track Welcome To The Machine, all three given a twist, a modern, offbeat grandiose feeling, which sounds really great. Track 5 is called I Don't Know and has a sound very similar to something from Pink Floyd's Division Bell, mixed with something that would come from Genesis' Calling all Stations... we do see a pattern here, but it is a very good track and one of the more commercially viable track on this album, a composition definitely worthy of airplay I think! Hole In the Sky concludes the live portion of this album, another excellent track with brilliant lyrics, a stunning melody and really great keyboard and guitar work. And a special bonus track is at the end of this disk; New Stars are born is a splendid piece with a brilliant melody and an extended, dramatic instrumental section reminding me of Dogs from Animals with some Steven Wilson harmonies at times.

Overall, an excellent production quality, a splendid job at capturing RPWL's sound live! Kalle Wallner delivers some of the most spine-tingling guitar work I've heard this year. This group has an incredible presence, and one of the richest, thickest, lush sound you'll find. It is said their live shows are something to see, they are visually spectacular and the elaborate multichannel sound system they use gives them a unique sound. Hopefully, we'll have the pleasure of seeing them soon in America! If you are unfamiliar with RPWL, this is an excellent album to introduce yourself to the band if you want to try them out, and definitely a must for fans of the group. This album ranks highly on my own personal top twenty list of the year!

My rating for Start The Fire - Live : 8.9/10(album reviewed by Robert Dansereau 27/11/2005)