KARMAKANIC

Two worlds, two politicians (signifying on the cover President Nixon and President Mao sketched) and two bands shakin' hands, great symbiosis with bigger emphasis put on the better. These are the words best describing this unique performance between the two bands belonging in the Flower Kings family, having recorded live in California, USA. While I'm not a big fan of Agents of Mercy, the musicians performing in the group are undoubtedly great and talented, I definitely prefer the music of Karmakanic, which is more wanton than Agents of Mercy's neo-prog tendecies in music. The songs here can be apostrofised as being cut into sections on the disc having the first three coming from AOM's Fading Ghosts and the others from Karmakanic's second and third discs. The songs Afterglow and the Solo are new brats from the same-mixed vein, so to say. The performers are also mixed from both groups with Nick D'Virgilio known very well in the prog world recruited among them. The sounding of the album is superb as well as the way instruments sounded, with prefect artistic balance on the keyboards and guitars. Göran Edman's vocal style and voice-lines are in their best shape as always, and there's no complaint filed against the lenght of songs either. Where the Earth meets the Sky and Eternally (with the heartbreaking introduction) are endlessly beautiful even under the most rigorous lense, true heart and sonic embrace of life is there everywhere. This album would be characterised as a masterpiece if all the songs were as flawlessly perfect as the two ones mentioned.

I haven't had much luck when it comes to KARMAKANIC. I couldn't really get into their first two albums and had no intention of checking this one out until seeing all these rave reviews one after another.Well like the three collaborators before me i too have to give this 3 stars. This is their most impressive release by far in my opinion but there's too many moments that i either dislike or could do without to give it 4 stars.Lots of guests on this one including Andy Tillison,Roine Solt,Tomas Bodin,Theo Travis and more.The best part of this album is the former FLOWER KINGS rhythm section of Reingold and Csorsz. The first track is the best on the album bar none.No complaints for this almost 20 minute opener.It's one of those rides that always seems too short. "Let In Hollywood" is catchy but i'm not enjoying it at all until it gets heavier 2 minutes in.It settles back again. "Who's The Boss In The Factory" is a good track except for chorus which is very annoying for me because of the FLOYD reference which is all over it. "Two Blocks From The Edge" is good with the guitar crying out early.I like the bass after 5 minutes and the guitar,organ and sax that follows. "Eternally Part I" is a short piano themed piece. "Eternally Part II" is melancholic with piano and violin leading early.Not a fan of this one. A good album with a killer opening track.

In fact, I will not only Karmakanic'den. Event Kaipa, The Flower Kings, The Tangent, and to address the need Karmakanic rectangle. Kaipa comes a band called 70 from Sweden. When these friends are starting to do the best for the classic progresif'in and periods are a good place. One of these men, however, especially from inside, strange-haired guitarist Roine Stolt an uncle named, very strange and frightening because it is a potential never stops. Such as the cheeky guitar, found that after all is gone, but I was running from success to success or a strange personality. 80 Kaipa'nın some stopping after the 90's The Flower Kings a band called the temellerininde include these companies and indeed the music world is very good a lot of study undertaken are 99 in this group other dirty bi friends attending it Jonas Reingold called human . Bassıyla fretless and he was stuck on the other end is touching keyboardıyla adds an air of super-group. Here is the friends that have been Karmakanic'e forefoot. Although these men were also included süpergrupta called The Tangent. Flower Kings Adam & Eve's superb album of the patients that we are in the Daniel Gildenlöw. Returning to our subject, The Flower Kings fans will not never drag Karmakanic'e alien. Although each of the groups they are not wrapping it with an extension of the time change and wondering whether you know him do not know the difference, actually. But to me this group much less technical and more appealing to the emotions of a group profile is drawn. this is a good thing, sometimes it is very technical, in fact, that you know is good, but you can not listen to groups can be. . In short, the last album, "Who's the Boss in the Factory?" worth a listen, you get into the general flow is a good album, I say do not miss

I wish I liked this album more. The musicians are certainly very talented. But the album just isn't consistent.

It starts out spectacularly. The first track, Send A Message From The Heart, a nineteen minute epic, is everything a symphonic prog epic should be: grand in scope, different movements that flow perfectly from one pert to the next, and played by musicians who are easily up to the task of this difficult to master genre.

After that, the album tails off. The next two tracks are good, but nowhere near as good as the opening track. Let In Hollywood is a rocker in 7 (it even tells you this in the lyrics). It's kind of catchy, and pleasant. The title track, Who's The Boss In The Factory is fun, but not terribly prog. It reminds me a bit of the It Bites album I own.

Then there's Two Blocks From The Edge, this song is hard to review, because I seem to forget it right after each listen. That's not a good sign. And the two-part Eternally is just too light for my tastes.

Since the first third is great, the second third is just okay, and the third third is... Three stars.

Man!An album that deserves all the congratulations in the world,because it's someting really of high class!JONAS RHEINGOLD is a monster bass player,a sensational musician and everybody knows the fact that he is an important wheel in the luxurious prog vehicle called THE FLOWER KINGS!Some peolpe,says that TFK is the best prog rock band in the world...The statement is true somehow,but definitelly KARMAKANIC is the little brother of TFK!This album is simply sensational under all aspects,it's almost a revelation and has nothing in minus compared to any of the best TFK albums!DIXIT!Musically speaking it's brlliant and the level of musicianship and technicity of all the musicians in the band is fabulous!A wonderful and powerful sound,a crystal clear production with a special mention for the bass sound- absolutelly monstruous!Technically speaking,the album kills and there are some moments of pure magic here,even the most pretentious prog rock fan will be plenty satisfied,because the guys are stellar in their performances!Goran Edman,the formely YNGWIE MALMSTEEN vocalist is doing an excellent job here,and I feel that the prog register is more then excellent for him,giving the right space for expression for this so talented musician too!More then one hour of pure magical wizzardry and such a componistic diversity,fantastic instrumental songs and long instrumental parts in the middle of almost all the songs,proving that way thet in prog,is essential to be well skilled and competent to any instrument,that's what makes the album is so catchy and attractive from the first to the last accord!It's no wonder or surprise that after this marvelous album -WHEEL OF LIFE-KARMAKANIC have signed with the monster prog label INSIDE OUT!As I said,not even a weak song or boring moments-it's only high quality prog rock made in Sweden in the best Scandinavian tradition and in the style of THE FLOWER KIKGS,KAIPA or THE TANGENT,PORCUPINE TREE..and with serious influeneces from icons of prog old fashin like YES,GENTLE GIANT,GENESIS among others,but with a more modern touch!RHEINGOLD is pure monster bass player and a fantastic composer.4.5 STARS for an album full of wonderful moments of magical prog rock.TOP CLASS!

Among proggers, this album was one of the most popular of 2008, and it gathered so many positive reviews I felt I had to check it out. The omens weren't too good: one look at the cover and I was afraid this was just more product from InsideOut's highly active prog factory. But "Send a Message from the Heart", the near-twenty minute opening track, blew me away. Rousing melodies, stately "symphonic" arrangements, wild Moraz-like synthesizer solos and surprisingly jazzy (almost Holdsworthian) guitar solos: the piece had it all. Besides, you could easily listen to it just for Jonas Reingold's magisterial trebly bass. It initially seemed Karmakanic had a far better chance of impressing me with their "epics" than most of their coevals.

However, on subsequent spins I must admit the glory of "Message to the Heart" diminished somewhat. It probably depends on how cynical a mood I'm in. On certain days I'm prepared to get carried away by those fake-sincere vocals. On other days I simply cannot take lines like "Compassion leads your way into the sun on your way to paradise". I understand most symphonic prog bands want to sound uplifting, but a cliché is a cliché, no matter what!

And to my regret, the remainder of the album fails to reach the level of excitement of that opening track. The second track, "Let in Hollywood", is conventional Flower Kings-style rock based on a blunt hard rocking riff. The third track (the title piece) sounds like a superfluous attempt to rebuild THE WALL, although it is redeemed a little by yet another (brief) Moraz-style synth solo, and a splendid piano middle section. "Two Blocks from the Edge" is worse: histrionic vocals AND histrionic lead guitar serve no better purpose than to illustrate run-of-the-mill adolescent angst. Empty lyrics like "What's the question, what's the answer, this life is killing me" are thrown at the listener, yet the music doesn't speak of true emotion. (To be fair, the piece ends with some truly elegant electric guitar flourishes, but it's a case of too little too late.) The final track, "Eternally" (parts one and two), is Reingold's requiem for his parents, who perished in a car crash in 2007, and I hate to say it (as in this case the composer's feelings must have been all too real) but both music and lyrics are almost unbearably sentimental.

Verdict: Good in part, but not necessarily better than the dozens of other symphonic prog albums that are being churned out nowadays.

The Typical overrated modern symphonic prog album. Maybe it's just me, I didn't like it so much. I found it kinda boring and without any moments of enthusiasm that are usually typical of symphonic prog. The only good song for me is " Let in Hollywood", while " Send a Message To The heart" is a 19 minute song, which bores most of the time, being a useless effort for the listener. " Two blocks from the Edge" is similar, much less long (9 minutes), with very few good ideas. Even the Eternally songs aren't so good. I don't understand how many people loved it. I found it boring and not fulfilling at all.

Second (or even third) class Flower Kings album

The Flower Kings is (or are, but anyway) a rather unique band that have released absolutely wondrous albums throughout its existence in such a way that, by now, the band has reached some kind of mythical place in the progressive rock Pantheon alongside with the traditional important progressive rock bands, such as Yes, Pink Floyd, King Crimson and Genesis. So, like it or not, those kings of flowers are a must for anyone that is exploring the world of progressive rock and is experiencing the many styles or sub-genres of progressive rock since its sudden reappearance in the early 90's, because they are such an important band for the genre for the past 15 years and released a studio album almost every year, having a rather extense discography.

However, in recent years, since the release of their 2007 album entitled The Sum of No Evil, the core band members begun working more eagerly on their own solo projects than on the band itself: Roine Stolt put out an album of yet another solo project of his, called Agents of Mercy, and got together with his old friends and regrouped Transatlantic, Tomas Bodin released two solo albums since 2007, which are called Cinematograaf and You Are (with another band called Eggs & Dogs rather than by himself, but he is the leader of it anyway), the second part of the trilogy started in the 2005 album I AM, and, last but now least, Jonas Reingold released this album, entitled Who's The Boss In The Factory?.

There is one problem, however, with those solo efforts from those band members of Flower Kings: since they are the main writers of the band, in one way or another, their solo albums will sound like a Flower Kings album, but, since they are solo efforts, the result is, most of the times, not as great as it could be. Karmakanic's latest effort is in no way an exception to that rule. Who's The Boss In The Factory? is not a bad album by itself, but the thing is there seems to be something missing, and THAT something missing is what make this album's overall quality suffer. Of course, there are new things here that you would not expect to be in a Flower Kings album, and those are very pleasant surprises, but still unable to fully bring the album up or to make the album brighter.

The only song that really stand out is the opening track, entitled Leave a Message from the Heart, which is a great epic, but honorable mentions need to be done to the enthusiastic Two Blocks from the Edge and to the melodic and sentimental Eternally (parts 1 and 2)

The highlights go to: Leave a Message from the Heart, Two Blocks from the Edge and Eternally.

Grade and Final Thoughts

Who's The Boss In The Factory? is a quite good album, I must say, but it is unable to give me any thrills beyond the opening track, and do remembers quite a lot that other Swede band called Flower Kings. Because of all that, three stars.

Neo-sympho-prog is the kind of music I usually avoid but since this Karmakanic has got such a good reception I decided to ignore my recent Transatlantic trauma and have a go at it anyway.

Well I'm glad I did, even though, as I had feared, it has turned out to be a rather frustrating experience. Not because it is any bad but because I hear so much potential here that does not get fulfilled. Or rather, it gets fulfilled, but then crushed down again the next moment. Generally, this band plays excellent symphonic prog with lots of interesting grooves, progressions, solos and high-standard musicianship but, hmm, those vocals again.

The sticky finale around minute 17.00 of the epic Send a message from the heart serves as an good example, so much gospel-flavoured melodrama is hard to swallow, especially if you compare it to the great things they can achieve on the fusion infected guitar solo that follows right after it. Can a song get any more frustrating? How am I supposed to enjoy that solo without having to succumb to the vocals that precede it. (Well maybe that solo isn't all that great but just sounds good because the preceding part is so weak, a cunning trick for sure!)

The remainder of the album isn't much more consistent and keeps going back and forth between fun prog rock like Let In Hollywood and trite commercial rock vocals as in Two Blocks From The Edge. The title track is great and so is the album closer Eternally, at least till they decide to 'do a Queen' on it and spoil the last 2 minutes with bombastic pathos and big hallow sentimental gestures.

This time I can at least understand the excitement around this but I can't fully share it. Well, it's certainly a lot better then Transatlantic and I guess I'll return to listen to it. Still, frustrating, as it is almost so darn good. 3.5 stars.

An upbeat and well performed album by some of the best musicians of the progressive rock genre, what can go wrong?

"Who's The Boss In The Factory" opens with(I'm guessing here) one of the members children singing "When the night goes silent and shadows come to life, send a message from the heart". This gets me every time, what a great line to open an album with, filled with optimism and encouragement. What better way to describe Karmakanic and their music?

The opening track is called "Send A Message From the Heart" and I think it captures Karmakanic's melodic and brilliant progressive rock and the big doses of optimism and happiness it contains perfectly. An optimism rather unusual for Swedish music, which normally tend to turn towards melodrama and suicidal tendencies(I'm Swedish, I get to say these things!). On their previous record the song "Alex in Paradise" practically made me jump in my chair from sheer giddiness. It's so upbeat groovy and tastefully complex! This trend reasserts itself in the first half and end of the opening track. While keeping things happy and upbeat, the band manage to keep it likable and balanced for the most part; skillfully juggling technicality and emotion without losing the one to the other. Although the overall feel of the songs are extremely positive there are "darker" parts that save the music from turning into a parody of itself(Hey, I said I'm Swedish. There is such a thing as too much happiness /joke).

Jonas Reingold's bass playing is just as fantastic as in the previous records with Zoltan Csorsz keeping things tight and groovy with him. Together they make up a rhythmic powerhouse that turn some parts of the album into pure gold. The other players performances are of course of the highest class, no mediocrity as far as the eye can see. Karamakanic is a band with some of the greatest instrumentalists of the genre, no doubt.

So the opening track is brilliant, quite fantastic even. What can then be said about the rest of the album? For me it never really manages to pick up from the insanely epic intro. The musicality and creativity of the members of Karmakanic is nothing short of awe inspiring. So much skill and tongue-in-cheek hooks and humor that it'll leave your mouth dry at times. But I felt like the album never really takes off after the opening. It stays in safe waters to the end, until finally finishing off with an almost too grand finale(we're talking marching drums here; they are pulling out all the stops!).

"Who's The Boss In The Factory" is a great progressive rock album which doesn't really surprise or add anything to the genre. You get what you expect from purchasing an album with members of The Flower Kings. It's very swedish progressive rock, very melodic and very lagom(swedish word for "not too much, not too little"),

3/5