THE RAINMAKER

Another excellent follow-up album from The Flower Kings after their previous excellent work titled "Space Revolver". For me personally, "The Rainmaker" is much more accessible than its predecessor as the music, overall, is more melodic and the music is more solid. This might be the line-up change where Michael Stolt (bass) was replaced by Jonas Reingold and Jaime Salazar (drums) was replaced by Zoltan Csörsz. The line-up change does not really change The Flower Kings sound, however, it changes the way the music harmony is formed. This is due to Zoltan's truly dynamic drumming, combined with adventurous and inventive bass lines by Jonas. The result is a complex music with excellent harmony which blends stunning guitar work by Roine Stolt, Bodin's floating and soaring keyboard sound - both of them are fully supported with excellent combination of bass guitar, drums, percussion and powerful vocals.

The album kicks off with "Last Minute On Earth" (11:40) which has an intro that blends nice guitar riffs and melody reminiscent of early Genesis featuring Zoltan's acrobatic drumming augmented with keyboard. The music varies from a floating style during first verse lyrical part and it moves upbeat with guitar melody during transition piece and brings the music into fast tempo. The keyboard work by Bodin injects symphonic and sometimes spacey nuance of the song. Throughout music passages I can hear clearly how inventive Jonas plays his bass guitar. This song is great in terms of composition as well as band's performance. It's a WOW track, I would say. I enjoy Stolt guitar solo where Jonas provides really solid and dynamic bass.

"World Without A Heart" (4:29) starts mellow with acoustic guitar rhythm followed with electric guitar melody that welcomes voice line. The song is like a ballad song with good music flow. "Road To Sanctuary" (13:50) brings the music into a bit complex arrangements where organ provides its dominant role during opening. As the song turns faster in terms of tempo, guitar enters the music. I especially like the passage where the keyboard sounds like a vibe combined with rocking guitar solo. This song also provides some acoustic guitar break that accompanies voice line. "The Rainmaker" (6:02) sees the band in its avant-garde style with orchestration, featuring guitar solo augmented with church organ at background. The guitar work is really rocking - an interesting one to listen.

"City Of Angels" (12:04) sees the band performs its music with a keyboard-based intro which brings excellent singing supported with combination of guitar rhythm / effects and medium beat drumming. The music moves to different style with guitar gives nice fills during singing part. "Elaine" (4:55) demonstrates a good combination of acoustic guitar work, vocal and excellent bass lines. "Thru The Walls" (4:31) starts differently with soft punch of organ followed with vocals. Roine Stolt gives his Hackettian guitar style during interlude guitar solo. Really cool.

"Sword Of God" (6:00) begins with a colossal nuance followed with dynamic music that features great guitar melody and riffs. It sounds like a rocker especially on how the guitar riff is played. This is when TFK combines its music with Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath. Again, Jonas plays dazzling bass guitar work. "Blessing Of A Smile" (3:12) is a slow track with some blues influence with saxophone and excellent bass guitar. The album concludes excellently with "Serious Dreamers" (8:59).

Overall, it's highly recommended. Some people consider this album is inferior than its predecessor. I disagree. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW