THE FLOWER KING

I'm not going to necessarily shy away from the fact that I'm younger, but at a fresh 28 years old I am as old as this album before us, which, given the broad subject matter of Progressive Rock, is still a relatively new release. Of course, we don't usually look at media that is nearly 30 years old in this lens, but it's somewhat relevant. What really drives home the age of this album is its and my relationship to ProgArchives. I've been posting reviews for less than a year now and the most recent review for this album was posted 5 years ago. I don't exactly know what all that means to you, but I do take it as an honor to 'look' at it with 'fresh eyes'; and interestingly enough I would figure it's been about 5 years since I've listened through this, Roine Stolt's pre-Flower Kings and therefore timely solo effort--I often forget it's not his debut. Being just a year before the steady stream of Flower-Kings-proper releases, this features now-familiar names: Hasse Fröberg on shared lead vocal responsibilities; [less familiar here, but] Ulf Wallander, the guest-spot sax player since the beginning until the present; [similarly consistently guest-spotted] Hasse Bruniusson on drums and percussion; and I would think most famously Jaime Salazar on drums and percussion [his involvement ended in 2001].

Most recognizably showing his lineage from Yes and their symphonic ilk is the introduction of "The Flower King", our title track and album opener. And this just is The Flower Kings; this is what they sound like. It's classic Symphonic Prog fitted for a more modern audience by a [slightly] younger generation of excellent musicians. At 10 minutes in length, it is our first of three mini-epics. As the verse continues, its age and timeframe of recording is very evident. Hard to explain, but you'll get the picture. I guess you could say some of the melodies and swelling instrumentation is in the least bit 'dated'. The riff around minute 3 is also of a very different time and nature than today, but I think ye fans of contemporary guitarsmith Steve Vai may find something familiar here, as I did. If you somehow don't know it yet, Roine is a very capable guitarist himself and, I would say thusly, surrounds himself with comparably apt musicians. The drumming of Jaime is exemplary, for instance. The Yes comparisons can be made increasingly here, as Roine solos over warm, bright accompaniment (he plays the keys here as well). And in the spacious aftermath of that bombast, we can also hear the natural lineage from Genesis clearly for the first time (around minute 7).

As the title implies, "Dissonata" starts off low and creeping, slowly opening up with warm but wary synth, finally building to the verse by minute 1. This track has a great beat and, as I've certainly come to expect from him, everything is well mixed and full. One of those great moments in which you have to come to grips that most all instrumentation and layers are provided by this single person. Impressive to say the least. I don't entirely understand how one so masterfully combines darkness with optimism, as I'm not a composer haha, but again, just excellent work here. And in classic Roine fashion, he is equally a compositional master in his proficiency of holding our attention throughout 10+ minute tracks (my mind can't not go to the 30+ minute epic, "The Truth Will Set You Free", released 8 years later). Once again, he also shows off his virtuosic guitar skill around minute 6. Beautiful and sweet notes... that fall away to the dissonance we were so wary of from the start. This segment feels a bit like a King Crimson lift. A nice nod, I'll say. Overall, a surefire highlight.

If I wasn't impressed enough by Roine's overwhelming muscianship, "The Magic Circus of Zeb" is lifting that veil: He plays this incredible keyboard solo at the frontend that blew me away... Also, some synthy[?...] goodness that should totally appeal to mid-to-late-70s Zappa fans! A mimicry of mallets? It does say he played percussion starting on this track (including the excellent drum performance here!!!)... This is then followed by this emotive, beautiful guitar solo. Good God, this man has it. Yet another must-hear for Symphonic Proggers like me. Goodness gracious... This is followed by the balladic and soft "Close Your Eyes"--the lowlight, as I purposefully did not bold it as I do for album highlights. In comparison to the prior 3, not a whole lot to see here--I should have figured the album wouldn't ring out 'perfect'. Oh well haha. [Wild that without this track, my personal average would have brought the album to a 4.5/5.0]

Our final mini-epic, at just over 9 minutes, "The Pilgrims Inn", is our true introduction to the other drummer here, Hasse Bruniusson: an excellent percussionist. This track also features the aforementioned Ulf Wallander on soprano saxophone. It brings to mind some Fusion bands like Passport mixed with a familiar darkness early enough featured by King Crimson, especially via the more established Red-era lineup. Really beautiful stuff, but again dark and moody. Around minute 7, a super memorable theme starts off on acoustic guitar. A sort of melody that makes me think of European Folk or an image of a troubadour. Killer track. I think it is really nicely juxtaposed by the next, "The Sounds of Violence", which feels like a preparation for wartime... Very sinister key melody. These are the moments I really get excited about for Roine. For instance, I now think back to Transatlantic's latest, The Absolute Universe. The favorite for me there was the very dark and very obviously Stolt-penned "Owl Howl". At just shy of 6 minutes, "Sounds..." is pretty much a perfectly incapsulated Prog song for me.

As we come to the close of this landmark release, "Humanizzimo" is our 21-minute epic. Ulf returns to the sax, and I guess it's just the fact that it's a soprano(?), but I can't help but think of Passport. Could be something to that... Our first shift is around minute 4, from swelling, personal beauty to... Rockabilly?! haha. Nothing is truly surprising to me at this point. [It would be at this point, nearing the album's close, that of course the disclaimer I frequently feel is on my mind: Roine Stolt's voice is very likely an acquired taste. I like it. But it is not a standard voice. I think he's quite talented vocally. It's just that his tone... You get it.] It is also for the first time in his known-by-me career where I must wonder about his personal faith: Is Roine a Christian? It would certainly make his relationship with Neal Morse in Transatlantic all the more sound/logical. Lyrically, this track talks of upright morals, facing temptations and a certain call to repentance. Then the lyric turns most specifically to actual regard to Jesus Christ himself: "With the blood of Jesus on the nail / we turn the balance on a scale / In pain and fearless suffering / lies a message from the King of Kings". He speaks of spiritual warfare, of heaven ("enter in the hall of grace"), of an apparent personal relationship with God the Father ("safe in your daddy's arms"?) and that love is "all in his name". Seems like a dead ringer, if you ask me. Around minute 17 or so, a very clear homage to Yes's latter-day epic "Awaken" can be heard... This was driving me nuts and it took me a while to figure out what was being referenced. See "Awaken" around 8:20 and onward with Wakeman's grandiose church organ. And wow... the ending on this... Gee-whizz! haha! And now, speaking of endings, we get to our album finale, "Scanning the Greenhouse", which feels like another less pointed homage to Yes. Hasse Fröberg returns on shared lead vocals here. As an opposite bookend, we get a return of "The Flower King" refrain. Another great number and therefore a great way to finish out this very very, most excellent album.

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