SWE | progressive rock
If a band deserves the title “epic”, it is undoubtedly The Flower Kings. For almost 30 years, the Swedish prog rock legends around their charismatic frontman and guitarist Roine Stolt have enriched the music world with symphonic masterpieces that are even more impressive “live on stage”. are a very special experience in themselves.
Although Roine Stolt has a number of other projects underway, he and the Flower Kings can look back on a proud record of 15 studio albums. The most recent work , By Royal Decree, was released in April 2022. "It's fresh and lively, the compositions are bursting with bursting with funny ideas and musical twists,” said a critic from the leading German hi-fi magazine Audio . In fact, the Flower Kings show no signs of wear over the years. The little patina that some of the old albums may have acquired is mainly due to the limited technology at the time of creation, as seen from today's perspective. The Flower Kings' back catalogue is therefore now being gradually restored to current standards and partly remixed.
As always, it will be interesting to see what the Swedish prog rock kings will play during their live tour. Fortunately, the often obligatory single hits have never been their thing. And that is a good thing. Most of the songs of the Flower Kings last more than five, sometimes more than ten minutes, but never get boring for a second. This is partly due to the clever arrangements that go through a wide variety of moods, similar to an exciting film that makes you forget about the remote control On the other hand, the music has an incredible stylistic range with influences ranging from classic blues and the Beatles to Yes and Pink Floyd and 1970s jazz fusion.