UNFOLD THE FUTURE

After confusing the fans with the irregular "The Rainmaker", The Flower Kings regained faith with another double CD, the first since "Flower Power", which in my opinion is the pinnacle of their discography.

"Unfold the Future" is very jazzy, the production is strong, the guitars are sharp, the keyboard shines throughout the whole record and it also contains lots of crazy percussions and strange sounds making this release to be very special and distinctive in the long Roine Stolt's career.

And the bass? "Unfold the Future" is also the best Jonas Reingold's work to date. His bass lines are just a dream, marvelous, almost perfect. I love it!

And it also has the collaboration of Pain of Salvation's Daniel Gildenlow on vocals, a guarantee of quality!

Sadly, like every other The Flower King's double album, this one also contains a pair of fillers like the forgettable jazz improvisation Christianopel, and maybe also The Devil's Danceschool, too convoluted for my taste.

But the rest of the songs just show a band and a bunch of musicians on their prime, in a time when The Flower Kings still tried to be a project larger than life, and not just another prog-rock band.

Best Tracks: The Truth Will Set You Free (their best epic, period!), Black and White (fierce, jazzy and crazy track), Silent Inferno (the bass playing is just wonderful here), Genie in a Bottle (great progressive hard rock), Fast Lane (Daniel Gildenlow singing is unbelievable) and The Devil's Playground (the second epic. Darker, jazzier and with another great Gildenlow's performance)

My Rating: *****