KING LAURIN AND HIS ROSEGARDEN

If you like concept albums, Peter-Gabriel-era Genesis, Marillion, Italian symphonic prog plus great guitar work, this CD could be worthwhile to check out. It tells the story of Laurin, dwarf king in the Dolomites of Southern Tyrol in Italy. As the folk tale goes, Laurin was extremely proud of his rosegarden, which was surrounded by a silken thread. Nobody was allowed to step into the garden or to break the silken thread. Although small, Laurin had the strength of twelve men when he wore his magic belt. Also he could wear a magic hood that made him invisible. Being rich and strong, all Laurin was longing for was a woman. When he heard that the King of Etsch was planning to give away his daughter Sybill, Laurin expected to be invited to compete with other kings and knights in battle for the hand of Sybill. When he didn't receive an invitation, he decided to go anyway, wearing his magic hood. While the other man fought to be accepted as husband for the kings daughter, Laurin fell in love with Sybill and - as he wouldn't have a change to fight for her - decided to kidnap the young woman. When the other men found out about the crime, they followed Laurin to his kingdom and one of them got so mad that he broke the silken thread and stepped on some of the roses. Laurin had threatened, that anybody committing such an act of violence to his roses would be punished and attacked the knight. Others came to help and when Laurin put on his magic hood, they nearly lost the fight. Laurins bad luck was that his movements could be seen in the grass and among the roses and thus one of the knights was able to grab him, pull the magic items from him and take him prisoner. At that point Sybill stepped forward and declared that Laurin had treated her well, hadn't harmed her and asked the knights to befriend Laurin, who invited the men into his court. He gave them food and drink and when the hour was late, the dwarfs suddenly attacked the knights and put them into their prison. The knights got strength from this betrayal and were able to break out of their prison cells. The captured the dwarf king and took him away. Laurin on the way out looked at the rosegarden and felt, that the roses had shown the knights were to find him, so he cursed his rosegarden, which turned to stone and it is only on some days in the twilight towards evening, that the glow of the roses can still be seen.

I took the liberty to tell the whole story, because in my opinion Mad Puppet did a magnificent job when they wrote the music for "King Laurin". They capture moods and atmospheres and show excellent musicianship. You really should get a copy of "King Laurin and his Rosegarden" and thanks to the generosity of Mad Puppet, that isn't a problem at all: You can download the whole CD from their homepage.

4 stars for the CD / 1 extra star for generosity