WHO'S THE BOSS IN THE FACTORY?

Between a music scene which constantly turns to illegal downloading, and a struggling world economy it is easy to see why a good number of bands are cutting down on their output over the past number of years. There are so many bands which had their last new release in 2006, 2005, 2004, or even earlier. The one place this seems not to be the place is Sweden. Hallmark bands of the country like Opeth, Evergrey, and Pain of Salvation remain as productive as ever, and some of the lesser known acts are even more ambitious. The Flower Kings, Beardfish, The Tangent, and what seems like an endless number of side-projects of the members within those and other Swedish eclectic prog bands keep cranking out albums at an impressive rate.

One such side project is Karmakanic, which is masterminded by The Flower Kings bassist Jonas Reingold. Along with a solid core of players the album features over twenty guest appearances, many of which are very minor, but all of which end up giving the album a little bit of extra spice that makes Who's the Boss in the Factory stand out amongst its contemporaries. Although the album has some serious overtones, it seems to flow with life, much like the country which seemingly inspires its musicians. Upbeat and inspiring the album kicks off with what is its masterpiece, "Send a Message From the Heart". The twenty minute song features a majority of the guests and documents very well the overall sound of the album. The main difference the album seems to have from many similar albums is that it tends to drop the somewhat drifty or overly atmospheric parts and replace them with more rockin' and melodic sections.

Following that, "Let in Hollywood" shows itself to be the only partial let-down of the album. Not a bad song it just seems to be missing something; an incomplete thought. From there on the album amazes. The other two long songs on the album, "Who's the Boss in the Factory?", and "Two Blocks From the Edge" leave the listener with incredible melodies and sing-alongs and perfectly segue into the final two beautiful ending tracks of the album.

Between his dozen other commitments you can tell Jonas Reingold really put his time and heart into this album, and any fan of Swedish proggers The Flower Kings should go and buy this album immediately, and anyone looking to see what Swedish eclectic prog is all about would do themselves a favor by starting with this album.

Nick's Rating: 92% (Unfortunately I narrowly can't justify calling this an essential masterpiece of progressive music, so I'm forced to go with 4 stars.)