On 10th Nov. 2001, Pär Lindh Project did two concerts in Reykjavik, Iceland. What came out of those shows is an impressive highly energetic and tight performance captured on disc. I found the music to have ties to prog legends ELP but adding a modern influence bordering at times with a metallic assault but never crossing over to the prog-metal genre (not that that's good or bad) and of course some very excellent keyboard work of Par Lindh. They did some ELP numbers, sadly not on the CD but the biggest part of the concert, was material from their latest album.
Having a female vocalist in prog rock band is a very welcome change and brings a different light to an all male dominated male musical genre. Magdalena Hagberg's beautifully angellic vocals and violin both add a fresh touch to the music. She also doubles as second keyboardist to Par Lindh.
Rounding off the band are William Kopecky, of American prog band Kopecky, on bass and Jon Hermanson on guitar were also very good in the instrumentations of the songs with their blistering guitar and bass work. The drummer and backing vocalist, Nisse Bielfeld sounds like a massive fury, which is some times missed in progressive rock. Drums have always been important musical force to me especially if the progressive music is rooted in "rock" such as PLP is.
Some day I'll catch PLP live but until then I have "Live in Iceland" to listen to over and over. An excellent live recorded testimonial in modern progressive rock history. GREAT stuff!
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on September 1st, 2002
