WHEEL OF LIFE

The main difference of this album to their debut is that all songs are written by Jonas Reingold alone,there is a new guitar player Krister Jonzon, who is excellent and involvement of Roine Stolt and Tomas Bodin is reduced to a minimum. Although it sounds quite different with less heavy rock impact and instead more jazz-rock influences and Roine is not present on most of the tracks the style is coming even closer to the one of THE TANGENT and TFK.

The first track which is the longest one of the whole album is an excellent start reminding very much to TFK and carrying the listener immediately away. Alex in Paradise is more a (very well done) Art Rock song with good rhythm section like on the whole album. It's true Jonas Reingold/Zoltan Csörsz is really a perfect team and one can hear that they have played many many times together. With the very groovy At The Speed Of Light the band is coming back again to a quite typical TFK-style supported by the guest Sal Dibba providing excellent persussion on Congas. Do U Tango? is a song completely different from the rest, a bit strange with a sampled voice but very interesting, with great bass play and spanish flamenco type guitar part. For sure something like this we never have heard by TFK. Where The Earth Meets The Sky is the second song clocking over ten minutes and would fit again quite well on an album of TFK, an excellent jazz-rock song with alternating parts, some more driving, some more mellow and played very well by all musicians. As well the rest of the songs sound more or less like the kind of music we know and love from TFK albums. In fact if there would not be a different guitar player and singer this album could easily have been published under the name THE FLOWER KINGS since there is not really that much difference despite it's mainly a solo work by Jonas. But that's no point for any critics in fact, because all lovers of TFK's music will be happy to have an album extra of them. And although the style of this album is quite similar to that of the main band or THE TANGENT, even more than on the debut, one has to say that all songs are excellent without any fillers present and it's very enjoyable to listen.

Though I'm almost seduced to give it 5 stars, I think probably 4 to 4,5 is more adequate. Anyway I'd recommend it to anyone interested in well played retro-prog or jazz-rock fusion, not only to fans of this great Swedish band. I'd like to mention that in my opinion this one is the best Flower Kings output of 2004!

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