THE SUM OF NO EVIL

After a few subpar releases, the flower kings are back in form with the sum of no evil. This album is very close in style and sound to their early releases Back in the World of Adventures and Retropolis, but there is a hint of their more recent albums as well. Musically this is everything you'd expect from the Flower Kings. The songs are full of beautiful melodies, instrumental complexities, and interesting structures.

The album starts off with the wonderful 'One More Time.' This is probably one of the King's most cheery and positive songs. The melodies are beautiful and catchy, as are Hasse's vocals.

'Love is the Only Answer' is yet another classic Flower Kings epic, and is probably my second favorite behind the great 'Stardust We Are.' Like the previous song, this one keeps hitting you with great melodies one after another, yet they repeat these parts throughout to give it a sense of unity. This is happy prog at its best!

'Trading My Soul' is a shorter song with a rather dark atmosphere compared to the rest of the album, almost similar to something off their previous release Paradox Hotel.

'Flight 999 Brimstone Air' can almost be seen as a sequel to Circus Brimstone from Stardust We Are where the band explored an esoteric circus-like theme. This is definitely the oddest song off the album, but it is great fun to listen to.

'The Sum of No Reason' and 'Life In Motion' are both great tracks, but not nearly as good as the first two. They both have some amazing TFK melodies, but suffer a bit from some less- than-amazing parts. The former has some rather metal guitar parts for the band which gives off a rather dark mood. The latter has some nice melodic moments from Hasse whose vocals have definitely grown on me.

Overall, this is a classic TFK release. Perhaps my only problem (one that is shared with most of their albums) is that it is slightly inconsistent in parts, and is simply too long. Had they trimmed it down to fifty of sixty minutes it would have been a much stronger effort. But regardless, this is some of the best modern symphonic prog you will find.

6/10