INSTANT DELIVERY

This DVD is quite different form the previous one, the brilliant Meet The Flower Kings. First, they are two members short: guitarrist Daniel Gildenlöw (leader of Pain Of Salvation) and original percussionist Hasse Bruniusson are gone. The excellent drummer, Zoltan Csörsz, is also absent. New drummer Marcus Liliequist steps in. A new aproach to music? Definitly. A better one? hardly. It's a maeer of taste also (see below)

From the very first song in the set, Paradox Hotel, it seems that they want to present themselves as a more tight, rockier band. Not only they are reduced the outfit, but also everybody is singing. I don't know if this is the best approach for such a prog group like this.It seems odd sometimes, but it does not spoil the whole project. And unlike Meet The flower Kings, there are no overdubs here. At least not as obvious as on their previous DVD!

If you liked the Flower Kings last CD chances are you'll probably enjoy this DVD a lot. I did, but being a long time fan I must say the set list is not much what I'd like to hear. I'm still wondering why they included such epics as The Truth Will Set You Free and Stardust We Are on this DVD. Their shortened versions are far from better then the full ones played in Meet The Flower Kings. Even some newer one such as Love Supreme is barely over half its original length. With such a vast cathalog of songs behind them, why didn't they play some tunes from great albums like Retropolis or Back in The World of Adventures instead? It's a mistery and such an waste of time for a double DVD. If in Meet The Flower Kings you wish they have included some more shorter songs in place of those boring tour images, on this one you'll end up guessing why they made such a strange choice of material.

Still, they are the Flower Kings, The musicanship is awesome as ever, the sound is better, the images are excellent. And the Paradox Hotel material works better live than in their studio versions. If only they did not play the same songs they did on Meet The flower Kings and would include some never seen live on DVD material Instant Delivery would be a great companion to their first video oferring. But, alas, this is not what we have here.

Good, but definitly leaving a lot to be desired. Good luck next time, guys.