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Änglagård vs Opeth vs The Flower Kings |
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Enchant X 
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 Posted: December 31 2020 at 17:13 |
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for me the choice was easy ... The Flower Kings
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AFlowerKingCrimson
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Posted: December 31 2020 at 17:27 |
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I like Anglagard but don't see what "new" stuff they have brought to prog. If they did it was a long time ago. Their 2012 album was basically just a rehash of their 90's albums. Great band but so are the Flower Kings. You don't have to bring something new to be good. Heck you don't even have to bring something new to be prog. If that was the case then at least 50 percent(if not more) of the music that gets labelled prog isn't prog.
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Man With Hat
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Jazz-Rock/Fusion/Canterbury Team Joined: March 12 2005 Location: Neurotica Status: Offline Points: 166183 |
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Posted: January 01 2021 at 19:27 |
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Opeth
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Dig me...But don't...Bury me
I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
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tempest_77
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Posted: January 01 2021 at 20:51 |
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I'm actually a big fan of a few Flower Kings albums, namely the Roine Stolt eponymous 1994 record, the band's first two records, and most especially Banks of Eden. They don't interest me quite as much as a band like Änglagård, whose music I find to be at least slightly less retro prog, though still heavily influenced by 70s prog, and whose composition and production just sounds fresher to me—couldn't tell you exactly why. However, I still think The Flower Kings are a great band who have some great records. My problem with The Flower Kings is records like Stardust We Are, Flower Power, Unfold the Future, and Paradox Hotel—these lengthy albums that clock in well past 2 hours and for me just feel like they drag on endlessly. To me, these albums represent many of the problems with prog rock—these massive "epic" compositions that wander aimlessly over the course of two CDs and don't really get anywhere. There's a reason that Banks of Eden is my favorite Flower Kings record—it's very musically excellent and satisfying while remaining more succinct, clocking in at under an hour. I enjoy The Flower King and Back in the World of Adventures, but even with those records I start to see a little bit of the issue that surfaces on their double albums—the band is just trying to put too much music into one record. Now, once again, that's not to say that I dislike the Flower Kings—I actually really enjoy a lot of their music. However, largely for the reasons listed above, for me they don't nearly approach the tier of bands like Änglagård or Opeth.
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AFlowerKingCrimson
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Posted: January 01 2021 at 21:25 |
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^I prefer the single album Flower Kings albums also. However, Banks of Eden does have a bonus disc so it's hard for me not to think of it as a double. Desolation rose also has bonus disc and I think with both of them the bonus material might actually be better(certainly with DR if I remember right). I haven't heard the last two TFK albums though. You might like the sum of no evil also. That's a really good one and is a single with no bonus material if I'm not mistaken.
Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - January 01 2021 at 21:25 |
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Dellinger
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Posted: January 02 2021 at 00:08 |
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Nice to see this poll was actually done, and indeed it came as a more interesting match. As for me, I still go with Anglagard, if only because of Hybris. I know very little from The Flower Kings, though. And Opeth, I do have found a good deal of enjoyment from them. As others have mentioned, I too don't have much tolerance towards growling, and even Opeth didn't change much my opinion about that (though I did learn to tolerate them in order to enjoy some very selected great songs that feature them). Still, the way I got to enjoy Opeth (even before Heritage) was looking for the non-growling songs, and they did have enough of them to enjoy... from what I got to hear from a few of their classic growling albums, my favourite songs were the non-growling ones, anyway. With only a few weird things. First, I never got into Damnation, which should have been my favourite thing from them, yet I wanted more metal from them and that one just ended up being to bland for my liking (except for Closure, which I find fantastic, specially in it's live version). And also, my very favourite song from them is the one song with growling that I do like from them, The Drapery Falls (live version from Lamentations, too). Then came their days without growling, and I do think they have done some very nice stuff since then, though I wish they would do more metal... so far, my favourite album from them has been Sourceress... though I still got to give the new one a good listen.
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Theprogelitist
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Posted: January 02 2021 at 01:37 |
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^Here come the thoughts of the creator of the poll (feel free to write if and why you disagree): I have the same issues with The Flower Kings. Too much music and a lot of it sounds the same. Since Stardust We Are, they have developed a signature sound, which they more or less replicated in every album between 1997-2007. I also believe that their sound is quite bland and thin. Most of it is just Roine Stolt noodling away on his guitar (which most of the time doesn’t have a fulfilling tone) with some mellotron or other keyboard in the background. The bass and the drums aren’t quite as in-your-face as I like them. Which is a shame because the players are good (just look at bass player Jonas Reingold’s projects outside of TFK). My favourite is also Banks Of Eden, but Stolt’s The Flower King surpasses all TFK-albums and is the only one of them which I deem a 5 star album.
When it comes to Opeth, I had the same suspicion prior to listening to them, namely that I wouldn’t enjoy the growling. But I fell in love with The Leper Affinity and then the rest of Blackwater Park and then Still Life. Now I like all of the ones I have heard. I think the key is to be in a state of mind that allows you to absorb all of the energy in their music. Änglagård’s Jordrök instantly turned me on to their music, and while their three albums just like TFK also sound quite similar, this is a sound which I enjoy quite a bit. This is mostly due to the atmosphere created with mellotron and flute, which TFK fail to come anywhere near (on most tracks). Also, the complexity of the music as well as the ”extroverted” drums and bass. It’s simply genius. Edited by Theprogelitist - January 02 2021 at 04:52 |
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thief
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Posted: February 22 2021 at 01:40 |
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Oh wow, what a strong match between the three. Really, really great stuff - but for different reasons. Änglagård surely takes the top spot for me. First, all three albums are gold standard. Second, I still think it's the "Best" post-70s prog group, if I were to pick one. No, I'm not an expert - I agree there might be a band I would find as magnificent as Änglagård somewhere out there, but it's unlikely. On a more personal level, it really helped to reinvigorate my father's interest in prog and set him out on a journey to find more stuff, that's how he learnt to appreciate dozens of "new bands" in 1990s-2000s, which - in turn - opened my eyes some more. Listening to Änglagård was a powerful experience back then and it stays relevant after so many years. I just don't do it on a regular basis to "save it" a bit; twice a year at most. The Flower Kings have, I think, one of the richest discographies in modern prog, and some material is extremely picturesque and heart-warming. I'm only familiar with 1995-02 stuff (1994 if we count Stolt solo as TFK), so I can't really pick them. Opeth... Opeth is a fascinating case. I enjoy Orchid to Watershed tremendously, that's a nine album run (!!!) and they're all so different. On surface it's always a blend of death metal, prog, acoustic stuff with a pinch of ambient, but I think all labels undersell them. This is the one I'm listening to the most. If I have any complaints, it's that some songs would be better off as 100% pure metal mammoths, not polluted with softer sections/downtempos... but it's nitpicking. I could discuss Opeth for days.
Edited by thief - February 22 2021 at 01:41 |
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geekfreak
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Posted: July 27 2022 at 05:06 |
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3. Opeth
2. The Flower Kings 1. Änglagård |
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Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake."
Music Is Live Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. Keep Calm And Listen To The Music… < |
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mellotronwave
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Posted: July 27 2022 at 06:59 |
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TFK and Anglagard
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digdug
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Posted: July 27 2022 at 07:33 |
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Anglagard for me
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Prog On!
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Archisorcerus
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Posted: July 27 2022 at 07:39 |
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The Flower Kings.
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David_D
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Posted: July 27 2022 at 07:43 |
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Änglagård |
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quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond
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Necrotica
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Posted: July 27 2022 at 07:48 |
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That's exactly it. They take so many elements from the 70s classics without adding anything interesting of their own. Take an overly retro sound and bloat each album runtime to 1-2 hours, and it gets unbearable after a while. To me, bands like Flower Kings and Simon Says represent all that is awful about prog throwbacks. Let's not add any of our own defining characteristics to this genre, but instead ape our influences to the nth degree and make the finished product twice as tedious as before!
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Take me down, to the underground
Won't you take me down, to the underground Why oh why, there is no light And if I can't sleep, can you hold my life https://www.youtube.com/@CocoonMasterBrendan-wh3sd |
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miamiscot
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Posted: July 27 2022 at 07:58 |
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The Flower Kings for me!!! Roine is the King Of Prog!!!
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The Prog Corner
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King of Loss
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Posted: July 28 2022 at 10:39 |
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Opeth
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Progmind
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Posted: July 28 2022 at 10:57 |
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1 - Anglagard 2 - Opeth 3 - TFK
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Psychedelic Paul
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Posted: July 28 2022 at 12:47 |
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I can finally take part in this poll, having almost finished listening to all of the albums from all three bands.
 1. Anglagard 2. The Flower Kings A very distant third..... 3. Opeth
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Jared
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Posted: July 28 2022 at 13:55 |
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tFK
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Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson
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jamesbaldwin
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Posted: July 28 2022 at 14:06 |
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I'm not a fan of there groups.
Anyway, Opeth.
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Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion.
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AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: