THE RAINMAKER

In my "voyage" through TFK production, I now reach their weakest CD, according to people that have reviewed this reknown group, i.e. 3.47 at that point, when half of the rest of their music is at least at 3.8. Well, there are some epics, which characterizes The Flower Kings, and as usual they are the main attractions, musically speaking. And of course, the shorter tracks are responsible for not going always to 5/5... It is the same here. But how about the epics and their overall effect ?

I feel those epics (tracks #1-3-5-11) are as good and super-prog productions as we see on other CD's. Maybe not as complete and outstanding as "Stardust we Are" or "the Truth will Set you Free", but still excellent indeed. The keys of Bodin, the guitar of Stolt, the singing of Fröberg, the bass of Reingold are again at top-notch, and their interlink is again full of variations, very melodic and complex.

I saw reviewers hesitate to go for 4/5, when an in-between note of 3.5 would be more accurate. In my opinion, the epics here counterbalance the weaker songs (but still at least OK with some good moments...), and I see this approaching the status of "excellent" (which will not be the case for "Paradox Hotel", coming soon...). You will appreciate those four "better" tracks, enough to add this to a good prog collection. Of course, because it is TFK !