THE TALE OF THE GOLDEN KING

When I started to listen to this record I thought the singer was from Britain because he sung so nicely. The voice wasn't very unlike the singer's of Big Big Train of United Kingdom. This album seems to be a story of a king and a kingdom. The Psychedelic Ensemble is an anonymous one man band but it really doesn't sound like ONE man. It gets help by singing from Ann Caren on a couple of tunes. The picture seems to be an old style church window. "The Tale of The Golden King" was released 2013.

The music of this record is a great adventure for the listener. He meets musical intertexts from the Medieval times, from Yes, from classical music, folk storys and the tradition of prog music in particular. Especially important on this record is the keyboards; they are driving the music forward and do not apologize for anything. Not afraid for hitting the highest notes and almost reuse Yes themes the Psychedelic Orchestra manages to make an awesome prog record. Because I am seldom totally pleased I think it was a bit too long and didn't hit the really best points but the standard is high and the record is very even. There is no bad tracks. The "worst" did get 7/10 points by my and the best 9,5/10 so the high class is indisputable.

The vocals are very good, I said they sounded British, and that is kudos. The female helping voice(also solo) on two tracks was so nice, I am a little sad they were'nt used more. On "The Queen of Sorrow" and "Great Day" Ann Caren sings and does it very well. The male voice has an unusual feeling too. The keyboards sound retro or original and on "The Prophecy of the Seer-The Transformation of the King" the beginning riff of Yes' Heart of the Sunrise seems to be reused just like on "Finale-Arise!-Great Kingdom" where I think I hear something of "The Fish"(Fragile). Those intertexts do great in this music. It feels very real all the time: the keys, the drums and the guitars. My favourite track is "The Golden King" which is very orchestral and encreases all the time, where we hear a lot of a beautiful voice, a flute and an orchestra. The ending track is almost as good as the last mentioned, also very orchestral and a main theme returns.

This record is amongst the best til now from 2013 and really worth listening. Perhaps I should give it some more examinations to be fair, now I nearly drowned in the music. I will give it four strong stars!