LOOK AT YOU NOW

The universe of The Flower Kings is limitless as it seems! I truly believe that at this point there could not ever be a bad album by this band, which for the record, has once again been reformed in a way. This time around the group is minus Zach Kamins, American keyboard player who contributed some very good sounds to the band's last couple of albums, whereas most keyboard duties are taken over by Roine Stolt himself, like in the good old days when he was basically responsible for almost everything happening on the albums (referring mostly to 'The Flower King', his solo album that spawned into the band). Jonas Reingold is now entirely replaced by no other man but Michael Stolt, the guy even provides some lead and backing vocals across the album! Then come, of course, Hasse Frobers and Mirko De Maio, the latest amazing drummer to join the ranks of the Kings, to put it plainly.

It seems incredible that the days when TFK are ardently releasing album after album every other year are back, but they have been incredibly active in the studio ever since they reunited in 2019, with this being their fourth album after the reformation of the band and sixteenth overall, a great achievement indicating the longevity and the legacy of the legendary Swedes. Truth be told, these latest albums have not been able to recapture the spark of the older releases, despite the fact that they sound extraordinarily well produced. The main reason for this could be the leaving of Tomas Bodin, their ex-keyboard maestro, or the fact that the band have been in fact trying to recapture this magical spark of the past, whereas none of their new ideas sound as revolutionary or vibrant as before.

'Look At You Now' clocks in at sixty-eight minutes in length and is comprised of ten new tracks, with the band continuing their exploration of the shorter song format, with most if not all of the songs clocking in at around five minutes. The album is packed with amazing sounds, beautiful melodies, fantastic instrumentation, all the aspects of a good TFK album. Some highlights have to be the opening track 'Beginner's Eyes', or the quite nocturnal and serene 'The Dream', quite glad they included this track on the album; 'Hollow Man' is no blunder, 'Mother Earth' sees Michael Stolt singing leads and delivering a new and interesting performance; 'Scars' and 'Stronghold' are quite enjoyable as well. The ending title track, also worth some eleven minutes of music, is a good attempt at the more epic song format the band is generally recognized for, although this one is far from the greatness of their epics of the near past. I could not really point out to any bad songs, the album as a whole is entirely enjoyable and celebratory, but the truth is that it does not bring anything new to the table. None of these last four albums now do, but this is not a problem. The band is going strong, their creative juices are flowing, and they continue to deliver great collections of songs full of flower power.