BANKS OF EDEN

I had pretty given up on the Flower Kings after Space Revolver, not really interested in their « let's put on our albums everything we've ever written » and it was sometimes difficult to play their albums all the way through. The five-year break since Sum of No Evil has been very beneficial and they seem to have found a renewed energy on Banks of Eden. The 23-minute epic Numbers is pretty dynamic and never gets boring and the four other tracks show a pretty good diversity and everything fits together pretty well. The song selection process was very well thought of, and the extra material has been relegated to bonus tracks on the deluxe edition. With the new Änglagard and echolyn albums, this represents one of the high points of 2012 so far.