POWERPLAY

Hasse Froberg and Musical Companion is a prog rock band formed of course by Hasse Froberg, no one else then the vocalist and guitarist of The Flower Kings. So far they released two albums one in 2010 and second offer will coming two years later in 2012 named Powerplay. So, what we have here is pretty solid music, sometimes very close to what The Flower Kings done in past years and I mean symphonic prog but this time this style is melted with hard rock elements, giving in the end a heavy prog album quite spectacular in places. There are lots of melodic hooks, nice instrumental passages, and keyboard driven arrangements. Also the voice of Hasse is very strong, he has a warm vocal tone who is fiting perfectly into this type of music. The musicianship and songwritting is top toch, every musician involved here truly shining, specially on pieces like opening My River to Cross what a strong opener, some great duels between guitars and keyboards like in the old days of heavy prog, The World Keeps Turning and few more, in fact all pieces stands as great, not a weak moment here. I really like this combination of symphonic passages with hard rock elements, the result is quite more then generous to any prog listner. All in all a winner, this album is as good as debut, both are strong and quite recommended. One of the better bands around in last years for sure. From me easy 4 stars. The album comes in digipak format with nice silvery artwork and booklet. Very solid band IMO.