Swedish band THE FLOWER KINGS are among the living legends of progressive rock these days, a flagship band in the revival of the genre in the 1990’s and a surefire headliner act for just about anyone planning to do a progressive rock festival that wants to draw the crowds in. If we can talk about stars in such a niche environment as progressive rock is, The Flower Kings have been one of the brightest as far as bands that didn’t start out in the 1960’s or early 70’s go. “Desolation Rose” is their 12th studio production, and was released through prestigious label Inside Out in 2013.
Now I do not recall just why this CD came to end up in my stack of CDs to review. I bought this one for my wife as a pre-Christmas gift, the limited edition version with bonus tracks, but can’t recall if it subsequently ended up in my stack of CDs to review because she wanted me to write about it or because she had chatted with one of the band members and had promised them I would cover this one. Most likely it is one of those two alternatives though, or that it just happened to be placed in my CD pile accidentally. Still, I do not write about this one because it was sent to me by the label or the artist, which on my case is somewhat unusual.
While I’m obviously familiar with The Flower Kings, they have never been a band that have been that high on my list of music to investigate for some reason or other, possibly it’s just a matter of how much time I have at my disposal. They are a quality act of course, always have been and presumably they’ll always be so as well, and their meticulous approach to the technical aspects of mixing and production is just one of the top notch qualities about this band. This is an album that should please most audiophiles out there, a well balanced and well assembled production through and through. All instruments are crystal clear, those fond of listening to the details beneath the main motifs and the subtle elements in whatever theme is ongoing will enjoy this album immensely due to this aspect alone.
If you have a taste for retro-oriented symphonic progressive rock you’ll obviously have even more to enjoy. Rich cascades of keyboards, organ and Mellotron flavor these compositions with a smorgasbord of sounds, if there is something that can be described as keyboard porn this is it, with elegant guitar soloing on top, in harmony or intertwined in the action of the tangents. As expected from this band the rhythm section is just as excellent, and Roine’s vocals, that in my ears have a slight touch of Jon Anderson to them, fits this landscape perfectly.
The songs obviously profit from all of this excellence, but still I didn’t find myself getting the goosebumps experience too many times as this disc unfolded. The opening sequence of Tower One actually felt somewhat strained to me for some reason or other, until the first instrumental interlude got going that is. Following that this epic length excursion started to grow quite a bit for me. This also established something of a pattern for me as this CD unfolded. Some songs opened in a not that intriguing manner, growing on me as they unfolded. Title track Desolation Rose another song in that category, The Silent Masses another one.
Other songs gave me goosebumps inducing vibes straight away, like the intriguing Sleeping Bones and later on White Tuxedo as well, but at some point this initial magic faded ever so slightly, the intriguing elements overly used or the song developing in a somewhat less interesting direction. Dark Fascist Skies is the sole exception here though, the generally darker mood an alluring element in itself, and in this case combined with sequences of a less brooding nature that also managed to catch my fancy.
The 8 tracks on the bonus disc gave me a slightly different experience. More varied in style and sound and less cohesive in nature, but more cohesive in terms of my end experience as a listener. From the sheer blatant fun factor of a track like Lazy Monkey to the sacral, cosmic vibes of instrumental Interstellar Variations, the pastoral landscapes of Psalm 2013 and the melancholic mood of concluding piece The Final Era all of these bonus tracks lacked the slight ebb and flow feeling I got from the main album. None of the slightly less alluring parts, but none of the moments of sheer magic either. But a high quality and more than pleasant collection of material it is.
That sums up my impression of “Desolation Rose” quite nicely too. This is, overall, a solid production by a high quality band. If you have a passion for symphonic progressive rock with many vintage qualities, and enjoy that style of music performed by a band whose members appear to have a very high standard on all aspects of the albums they create, this is a CD that deserves your time and attention. Perhaps not the production that will define this band’s legacy whenever they decide to retire, but an album that has solid, high quality written all over it.
My rating: 79/100
