LOOK AT YOU NOW

I got off THE FLOWER KINGS bus after their 2007 album "The Sum Of No Evil" feeling at the time that they weren't getting better and all of their albums are inconsistent. I didn't know at the time that THE FLOWER KING bus actually pulled off the road when I got off. A five year break then releasing "Banks Of Eden" their highest rated studio album on here. Some months ago as I was going through my favourites from this band I noticed the praise for "Banks Of Eden" and found someone who had it, ordered it and well as a substitute I got the cd I'm reviewing now as they didn't have it in stock anymore.

This might be my favourite cover art of 2023, it's just so vivid, so striking. The music? Not so much. It is pretty cool that three of the four were on that Roine Stolt solo album "The Flower King" from way back in 1994. The drummer is new to me and I miss Salazar and there's no Reingold sadly but hey things change. My first impression was that this record was fairly pedestrian and maybe past date. That changed after some listens but this does not standup well to their 90' music and especially "Meet The Flower Kings" the live one from 2003 my favourite. This is adult contemporary Prog and so it's going to have it's fans but I just can't get into it. Vocals seem tired whether it's Roine or Hasse especially the first two tracks.

Twelve of the first thirteen tracks are surprisingly short in the 3 to 6 plus minute range with the closer hitting 12 minutes but I'm just underwhelmed by that title track that closes this record out. My apologies to all THE FLOWER KING fans out there, I really didn't intend to check out this band in 2023 after over 15 years of passing on them. This just isn't my kind of music.