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Roine Stolt - Fantasia CD (album) cover

FANTASIA

Roine Stolt

 

Symphonic Prog

2.20 | 37 ratings

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Gatot
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
2 stars What rating means to you? I need to ask you this for clarity of how the ratings that I have given you so far through this wonderful site have worked well for you. My chief intent of giving rating is in the same spirit with progarchives guidelines: it helps you determine your purchasing decision on an album. I just need to emphasize this right here because what I am giving you with this review is my opinion about this pre-debut album of Roine Stolt solo album. I say it pre-debut because I have insofar considered that "The Flower King" was his true debut album while the two albums prior to debut "Fantasia" and "The Lonely Heartbeat" were something to do with his previous work with his band Fantasia prior to the debut and The Flower Kings (with "s") band. Back to the issue about rating, please don't get me wrong if I give a two star rating with this album, it is not intended to demean the musicality of this album. It comes back to your chief reason of having this album. If you have been a die hard fan of The Flower Kings, I recommend you to have it. But if you are newbie, please do not start with this.

As I have known the band and Roine Stolt quite sometime ago, it's about time to look back on how it started all. I believe that this release would not be possible if he and the Flower Kings are not as famous as now. But, looking back on how it sounded like at first inception is quite important to me so that I could understand how the talent has grown until today.

The music is basically not the same with what The Flower Kings deliver but I can smell some sort of style that finally made the basic elements of The Flower Kings. You may not take literally for all songs in the album that must be some way similar. A good example is the opening track "Nytt Blod" (4:33) which does not seem similar with later releases of The Flower Kings. You may recall that "Som Svalor Mot Skyn" (3:52) in a way has formed a foundation of TFK in the melody was crafted and the music style. "Samhällets Olycksbarn" (6:07) is even closer to TFK even though the music here is much more ambient with long-sustain keyboard work. It seems like the music has its attempt to sound similar to Genesis "Back in NYC". "Continental Carneval" (3:54) and "Silversurfaren" (3:40) are more on disco pop song with tight bass lines.

If you listen to this album without remembering The Flower Kings, you might end up with getting bored with the music. But as you have known Roine Stolt is, it gives you biased opinion toward this pre-debut album. So, I give this recommendation only for thos The Floer Kings and Roine Stolt lovers. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Gatot | 2/5 |

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