UNFOLD THE FUTURE

The Flower Kings is a really interesting band for me. They are like that family member you would love to formerly meet, however due to time constraints, you can't. However today, I was getting tired of not being able to listen to this supposedly great Prog band. I really wanted to see what the hubbub was about, and so I decided to indulge in them a bit. So I did some research. What was their best album. A lot of varied results. Some said it was Adam and Eve, some said it was Flowerpower. It was rather interesting, however a lot of them commonly had this album fairly high up on their lists. It intrigued me enough to fully see through what this band was all about, and honestly, it's very good.

Where I think this album truly shines is the variety on it. What I love about Prog is that bands can have a lot of room to do new things and try anything out with each song. The Flower Kings use this room to it's fullest. A lot of times I find myself loving each song for different reasons, like each come from a different album or heck a different band all together. I can definitely hear some influences of bands like Genesis, Focus, and especially a lot of influences from King Crimson. Despite these influences, they still feel like their own songs. I especially love the song The Truth Will Set You Free at the start of the album. It feels like a suite you'd hear from the bands of the 70s, which gives it a magical, and old timey feel that persists through the album. Like you entered a time machine and went back in time to a more classic era of Prog.

However there are also tracks that sound more modern, which I really dig. Again, variety. Not only does it feel like a wonderful 70s album in certain areas, it also feels like a hard hitting 90s-2000s album in other areas as well. It feels like the perfect combination of the new and the old, and it gives it a certain charm that some bands can't seem to master. It's clear the band already is aware of their craft in the album and tries to push it to better grounds.

Now despite my praises of this album, I must say there are some things that aren't satisfactory. For one, the album is pretty long, way longer than I say it should be. While all the songs are really good, I feel like if they took some songs off the album and released them as bonus tracks for a anniversary release or as singles than the album would be way better than it already is. Not only that but while I do praise the album for it's variety, I do admit that it might be a turn off for some people. Obviously it is a bit more of an acquired taste, so I obviously do not mind the certain changes of sound with each song, but I know people who do mind that sorta thing. It's less of a critic and more of a be aware sort of thing, stuff like that.

Overall I really, really love this album. It has some amazing songs and flows tremendously in between each and every track, however I do feel it's a tad too long, and the variety might not be for everyone. This album is very well done, so bravo Flower Kings, bravo.