BACK IN THE WORLD OF ADVENTURES

I thought much about this record and I really wanted to love it. The qualifications were there: a well liked symphonic rock band that keeps on doing records eighteen years after this debut, high rating amongst prog nerds, inspiration from the old time giants and a lot of skill.

So I wished this listening to be impressive and i thought it was in the beginning. Released 1995 with the name "Back in the world of adventures" this albums starts with a very impressive track: "World of Adventure". That long song contains everything you could want from a progressive song. The main theme is very nice and powerful and also we can discern inspiration from former heroes. Two secords reuse sounds from (I think) Genesis' "The return of the Giant Hogweed". I big shame the album didn't continue in the same way. In comparison with the first track, the rest is so lame.

There are hightlights in the rest too. "Atomic Prince/Kaleidoscope" is a strong track with nice acoustic waves and the songs "Go west Judas", "Theme for a Hero", "My cosmic lover" and "Big puzzle" contains interesting parts. In "My cosmic lover" it is hard to not notion the Beatles influences and that is a hightlight in my opinion.

Over all I would say this records feels extracted and it is hard to see/hear what new thay came up with. Perhaps I had liked this more if it was released in the 70s. My feeling about this is: Good music I want to continue exploring but I am absolutely not convinced about their greatness. Roine Stolt and his fellows maneged here to make two very strong songs(1,2) but a weeker full album. Even if no song from "Gardens of Eden" could compete with "World of Adventure" I think that album is slightly better than this. But my former high wishes for The Flower Kings has gone...