PARADOX HOTEL

Man i was excited hearing that THE FLOWER KINGS were releasing yet again another double disc album because all their double albums are the best. but when i heard that they were gonna settle and make something like the WHITE ALBUM by the Beatles i was kinda dissappointed. but i've heard so much good things about it i decided to get it anyway. and man this album is different by in a great way. This is starting to become one of my favorite FLOWER KINGS albums as they explore new territory by of course going into their Yes, Genesis, and Zappa roots but you also have a little more hard rock some nice melodic neo prog and cool beatlesque type stuff here as well. Well first off i love the fact that TFK make great epics and they have done that once again MONSTERS AND MEN, END ON A HIGH NOTE, and GIANT MINOR STEPS have really took me by surprise how lucious, crazy, and melodic the music, vocals, and solos are in each minute they are without a doubt some of the best epics by them. the are a bunch of the medium size tracks that also fair well like the crazy instrumentals of PIONEER OF AVITAION and THE UNORTHODOX DANCING LESSON. then you have great hard rocking yet melodic tracks like some of my favorite like WHAT IF GOD WAS ALONE?, PARADOX HOTEL, and LIFE WILL KILL YA. I mean this album is so good not even the filler stuff doesn't even bother me as much well except for BAVARIAN SKIES but that track doesn't take away the sheer joy that this album has. Also each member really does a fine job displaying the talents they have as muscians. Roine Stolt once again displays his great virtiuoso guitar skills throughout the entrie album in fact he has probably some of the most beautiful solos i've ever heard from him. Hasse Froberg also does a great job with his awesome vocal harmonies and he has some killer moments in stuff like MONSTERS AND MEN and GIANT MINOR STEPS, Jonas Reginold oh man what a great player unbelievalbe bass lines in alot of these songs i love the effective bass solo in the begginning of PIONEER OF AVIATAION. Tomas Bodin gah he has impressed me as this album displays his finest playing ever in fact this album has become my favorite bodin performance. MarcasLiliquiest well let me just say he doesn't quite beat Jamie but he is a bit better than Zoltan not that he isn't good its just that Marcus is just so tight with the whole group hitting every note as possible ah i love the tightness he brings to the band kinda reminds a bit of John Bonham which you kinda see in most of Marcus playing style. So as you can see this is definitely becoming a huge favorite of mine in the flower kings discography and i hope that their next albums after this will be just as good.