IN A PERFECT WORLD

KARMAKANIC are Jonas Reingold's special musical project, where he's responsible for the whole thing, speaking of song-writing, recording and production. So if you will, in this case, you may also call him the boss in the factory again. 'KARMAKANIC is always a result of everything that I enjoy in music' he explains ... well, then you have to await a very private insight of course. Being a member since 1999, no wonder that The Flower Kings influences are to recover overall. But there is much more to explore, one should not expect a strong symphonic rock effort. I can't get rid of the impression that he doesn't care much about the question if he's offering a pure prog album or not.

Besides his skillful bass handling 'In A Perfect World' proves that Jonas is a prolific songwriter too. And he's supported by an excellent crew as usual where I first of all want to point out Göran Edman's wonderful vocal contributions. I was very impressed by the forerunner album ... inspiration is still existent after three years, however dressed in new clothes so to say! 'We shall overcome ... how the world is changing' - 1969 - this song is pointing to the very start I assume. I surprisingly hear strong Yes reminiscences again and again. An epic one and album highlight for sure.

With the melodic Turn it up they turn away into more popular fields similar to Asia for example. On The world is caving in I hear some strong Whitesnake/Deep Purple hints and the excellent Can't take it with you surprises with a mix of Latin/Merengue and hard riffing guitars - very ambitious - don't know why but this immediately reminded me of the Pain Of Salvation song 'Disco Queen'. There's nothing wrong with the world then returns back to the symphonic Flower Kings approach, this time including nice guitar and keyboard solos.

It took some time to sort out this cornucopia of impressions. What I hear are more song oriented compositions with less soloing instruments, not that complex as usual, a conglomerate of various music influences which Jonas works out in his own manner. With Göran Edman on top the balladesque When fear came to town rounds up a good album, compared to the masterpiece 'Who's the boss in the Factory?' less challenging though and a bit inconsistent in order to range on the same level - 3.5 stars.