BACK IN THE WORLD OF ADVENTURES

The FLOWER KINGS debut record continues down the same path as Roine Stolt's "The Flower King" record with a few alerations. It's kind of cool that the actual cd has the picture of "The Flower King" on it from the cover of that previous album. The lineup has changed somewhat with Tomas Bodin taking over the keyboard, while Michael Stolt is the new bass player. Hasse Froberg is not on this one, but will resume singing on the next one "Retropolis". Salazar and Bruniusson shared the drum duties on "The Flower King" but Salazar is the drummer here with Bruniusson on percussion, except for the final track "Big Puzzle" where he gets behind the kit.

A subtle intro to "World Of Adventures" before we get some harmonies and a full sound. Roine starts to sing 3 minutes in as the soundscape becomes warm and uplifting. Some scorching guitar after 5 1/2 minutes. A nice upbeat section follows before we get some more great guitar from Roine. Check out Bodin 7 1/2 minutes in. Some blistering guitar 10 minutes in followed up by mellotron. This song is an adventure all right. "Atomic Prince/Kaleidoscope" opens with a keyboard melody that is joined by the drums and then the guitar. The guitar 2 1/2 minutes in is fantastic ! The keys sound like THE DOORS 4 minutes in.The second part of the song is pastoral with birds chirping and gently played guitar. "Go West Judas" has a nice heavy sound to it as vocals come in. Just a great solid sound especially after 6 minutes. More incredible guitar as well.

"Train To Nowhere" is mellow with reserved vocals. This is an emotional song that is dedicated to the memory of Raoul Wallenberg. The organ sounds really good as the guitar plays on. The guitar beautifully soars followed by waves of mellotron as the song blends into "Oblivion Road". This one is a little experimental with mellotron as sax, organ and piano come and go. As close to spacey as they will get. I like it. "Theme For A Hero" has so many mood and tempo changes throughout. Just a gorgeous sound 4 minutes in. The piano, guitar and bass shine after 6 minutes. Great symphonic track ! "Temple Of The Snakes" is experimental with mellotron that blends into "My Cosmic Lover". Actually the snake-like vocals to begin it connect it with "Temple Of The Snakes" as well. The drumming is so crisp but i'm not a big fan of the vocals that sing "My cosmic lover", it sounds eighties to me. "The Wonder Wheel" is an instrumental and one of my favs. It's dark and atmospheric with some angular guitar. The final song is called "Big Puzzle". It opens with reserved vocals, flute and piano. Simply beautiful ! Sax melodies are also featured. Roine lays down some guitar solos. Bodin starts to get active on the organ. The lyrics are fanciful and I like them a lot. A change 7 1/2 minutes in as the song seems to stop and restart with Roine singing. It goes on for a few minutes until we get such an uplifting passage with soaring guitar. As i'm listening to this right now my son just said to me "The guitar sounds really good." Nice. The perfect end to an incredible album.

What I like about this record better than "The Flower King" are tracks like "Oblivion Road" , "Temple Of The Snakes" and "The Wonder Wheel" as they offer some variety and darkness and therefore some balance that the previous record didn't offer.