WHO'S THE BOSS IN THE FACTORY?

hi this is frist review of this alblum thanks to insideout for promo copy. This cd starts off with mass epic,called send message from the heart excellent epic..Reminds me of styx at moments,Probly the strongest song on this cd..Amazing lyrics,vocal melodies,By Edman excellent drumming by zoltan..Jonas Reingold is going in good direction this cd is reingold best totally diffrent sound..

The next song Let in hoolywood the shortest song on the cd,Is probly the heaviest song on the disc and is excellent song. With some amazing complex odd time signatures,Nother highlight of this cd way to go guys..

Next song whos boss in factory is minor epi, prolby weakest song on the cd..Lyrically it dull,music is above average but it still good song not to much to comment on this song itself..

Next song is nother fave of mine two blocks from the edge,This song has saxophone in it which makes it lil jazzzy at times..With progressiveness in it long instrumental breaks good vocals,Probly most diverse song on cd an stellar mini epic by all precautions...

The last 2 songs eternally is more soundtrack feel to the song,First part is 2 minutes of classicalish melodies 2nd part is hymn to reingold parents which i read who dies in car accident..The emotions in this song r felt an ballad song,That even grabs me as song to relax u.Think of how life is eternal at times has many twists turns in it,But yet we still go on spirtual path of our parents forefathers.

4.5 stars prog rock cd of the year for me it been in heavy roatation in my car cd player hope this review is helpful!!!

The boss is in the house (or in da house, if you prefer)

If there's one thing you gotta love about the ''retro'' bands on the current scene is that they know how to make consistently good albums. It's also cool to see who works on what cd and what project because at this point the line-up for these albums are starting to look like the family tree in a Louisiana swamp, small and interconnected. Jonas Reingold has appeared as the bass player for several bands such as Kaipa, Midnight Sun and Tomas Bodin, he's also produced a number of offerings for bands. He's best known for work on his own solo project, but also as a main-stay with The Flower Kings and The Tangent. This guy certainly is busy, but that hasnt stopped him from outputting this excellent opus. The line-up for the album makes one grin as it's pretty clear that Reingold has a lot of people who owe him favors. Along for the ride with Reingold are Zoltan Csorsz (The Flower Kings, The Tangent) on drums and jazz master Krister Jonsson (The Tangent, solo) on guitar. Guesting on the album are a few more familiar faces such as Andy Tillison (The Tangent, Parallel or 90 Degrees) on the organ and hammond, Tomas Bodin on keyboards and Theo Travis (The Tangent, No-Man, Travis and Fripp, Theo Travis Band). Quite frankly, a perfect line-up for this kind of album.

Karmakanic's third album, Who's The Boss In The Factory, is a lot of what you can expect from these guys based on their previous works. So fans of the avant fans can flee for cover and those who love ''retro'' old-school progressive rock should step right up for this album. With only 6 tracks it's pretty evident that this bass player was going for the grandiose feeling rather than the concise, and he seems to have pulled it off rather well. Here we get exactly what people want to hear from this kind of band, we have the 20-minute sprawling epic, the 13-minute powerhouse, a shorter rocker, a 10-minute mini epic and an emotional conclusion to the album.

A lot of people are likely already drawing parallels to The Flower Kings [TFK] just upon hearing the description of the album. Well, there are a lot of parallels, but these are two completely separate entities. While Jonas plays a more loose and jazzy bass on TFK's efforts he's switched to a harder-rocking sound for this album. While TFK is more of a light-hearted group with upbeat songs, Karmakanic is a little bit more cynical in the long run of things. Reingold says he made the album with the intent to make people feel good, something definitely archived by the opening epic, Send A Message From The Heart, which has all the upbeateties you could ever hope to find in a song. Soaring keyboard solos and a nicely uplifting voice from Göran Edman make for a very pleasant tune. The rest of the album, however, starts to get a little cynical. The excellent rocker, Let In Hollywood, is lead by a powerful bass and synth riff and makes for a good chorus when it rolls around. This makes for a nice break between the epics, as the lengthy title track is short to follow. This one is a lot slower and more evil sounding with it's chants and synths pressing in an almost industrial fashion. Two Blocks From The Edge is another more evil sounding song thanks to Theo Travis's wonderful sax work and the generally malevolent atmosphere provided by the keyboards and hammonds.

Of course the final two songs really deserve credit. Eternally (Part I and II) may feel slightly out of place as these are much more 'sad' songs than the rest, but that can be expected being that Reingold wrote these songs for his parents who tragically passed away late last year. The emotion can be felt right off the top of the first section as Part I is a short but delicate piano piece and Part II is filled with grand string sections and an emotional voice. The songs combine to make for a very moving piece, and Reingold really pulled it off well.

Great and somewhat dark symphonic prog from a great group of musicians. Fans of any of the bands mentioned above should definitely seek to acquire this record, you won't be disappointed. People who feel that TFK albums go on for too long or have too much ''filler'' should also seek solace in this record, since there's nothing on the album that could be considered as such. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that with this release the alumni of the various bands that the musicians come from have given their other bands a run for their money. 4 stars out of 5! A great effort.

Escuse my english, I'm french (nobody's perfect..). The album is excellent, this is a thing. Now, the case of the last song. First, it's a masterpiece. I listened this song crying all long, but never mind, I replaid it like a fool (crying each time...). I always think that a bolero is a progressive part of classic music. this song is a bolero... Second, I understand very well what Jonas can felt when he wrote his (masterpiece) song. Indeed, my first feeeling was to tell my father to listen this phenomenom... I'm so proud to love progressive music... My father that I don't (can't) wan't to know that a day, he will disappear... What a song can do... Thanks a lot Jonas. It's about 10th times I hearned it, and I stopped to cry !

Karmakanic - Who's the Boss in the Factory

I'm not a great reviewer of albums, mostly I just consume them. But, incidentally, an album passes where I feel I have to speak up and say how good it is, and this is one of those! Jonas Reingold has got it together now.No more excessive excursions into jazz-rock or shredding like on the albums before, but a symphonic album par excellence. Ofcourse there's the obvious short excursion into jazz rock, but this time it's palpable since the album is melodic/symphonic driven, and then these excursions make for a nice break.. I don't want to talk too much about the musical skills of the personnel on this album, since they are all masters of their instruments, and the vocals are very good. This album personifies what I feel is great prog: Technical excellence, combined with a great feeling for melody and mood, and compositional/structural quality. The first track, Send a Message From the Heart, does what the title promises. it sends a message from the heart.deeply felt positive emotion. The track is 20 minutes, which doesn't let you off the hook for one minute. It is a great display of prog music the way I fancy it, and one of the best tracks I ever heard..(pardon me for liking some Yes even more.) The second track, Let in Hollywood, is for me the least of this album, but still very nice! I love the lyrics here" I can't hear a single, this song's in 7/8, instead has passed it's sell-by date. An up-tempo rocker in 7/8 (ofcourse).. The rest of the album can be split in two sections.The title song + One Blocks from the Edge, and Eternally pt I&II. The first of these blocks, Boss in the Factory and One Block from the Edge, are great symphonic prog rock, with solid structure, and good melodies. Great piano solo between 7:30 and 8:40 in Boss of the Factory! The second block, Eternally pt I&II is of a different kind: Here emotions rule. The first track, Eternally pt I. is a piano piece which references Chopin, very emotional, and flows seamlessly into Pt. II which is a dark flavored piece, with fretless bass and strong "French" feeling (the accordion plays an important part in that). It reminds me a lot of some great Anathema tunes.

This is the best album of 2008.A Masterpiece of Prog..so 5 stars, no less..

The not yet very long discography of Karmakanic shows an impressive improvement with each next release. And if the score for this album so far is not deceiving, you can't go wrong with this one. At this moment it's 4,57 from 15 ratings, that's promising at least. And I already have the two predecessors so I know what this band is about and what they are capable of. I have every confidence of having bought a winner here.

And so it proved to be I can already reveal. First song starts somewhat strange with a sweet singing little kid leaving you puzzled what it's all about. No worries, it only lasts a few seconds and after that it's entering paradise with an absolute masterpiece track called Send a Message from the Heart, a true epic in the style of Flower Kings. (I could swear I hear Roine Stolt sing and play the guitar here and there on this album but the booklet says he is only playing the guitar on one of the songs (Two Blocks) so I'm partly right and partly wrong here.) And I also would have put money on the guess he did some of the songwriting for this album. Wrong too, it's all Jonas' work (except the lyrics By Inge Ohlen R.). Well, both Jonas and Roine are in TFK so it's not really strange to make such a mistake. But with TFK 90% of the songs are from Roine so that's why I'm still a bit surprised. Especially this first song is so much like TFK, there is also lots of the sound of their previous album detectable and this can only mean it's excellent. More than excellent because Send a message .. can compete with the very best epics by TFK. So this is obvious 5* material. Also a lot better than the best songs by this band so far and I was already enthusiastic with mainly the second album, so...

Next up is the shorter Let in Hollywood, a song to wipe the sweat from your forehead and stop shaking. Although, not quite true, this one is less uplifting but still a very good track, lasting appr. 5 minutes, some heavy music with this one, a bit like Rush but better (4,25*).

After this the next masterpiece, the title track, starting quietly with piano and some darkish singing by the excellent vocalist, Goran Edman. After some 2,5 minutes a very recognizable chorus sets in played in typical Karmakanic style. This proves that Karmakanic is not a TFK clone, if it seemed like that by my comment in the first epic, I take that back. There are resemblances indeed but Karmakanic has still it's own sound and it's more present in this track than in the first one. After this vocal part, it's instrumental time and boy, do these guys know how to play them ! Bass, piano and lead guitar, it's all mindblowing stuff combined in a terrific composition. After about the 5th listening I'm absolutely convinced, this album has to be a masterpiece in my book and this song is partly responable for that (4,75*).

And it's almost as if the band must have thought: for those (fools) who still have doubts about the masterpiece status, we'll throw in another superb track. This one is called Two Blocks from the Edge and is probably the very best from the 3 crackers of this album. Again I get the feeling Roine is doing the singing in the beginning but it's Goran actually, I think they only sound the same when Goran sings softly. After 1,5 minutes you can hear this clearly. On this song Theo Travis does the saxophone in an excellent contribution. His bandmate from The Tangent Andy Tilison is also present in this Perfect Party I would like to call this album. Two of the best progmusicians around, so in fact it's not a surprise at all that this has become a mindblowing effort of an album. Huge guitarplaying by Krister Jonsson has also got to be mentioned. The climax of this track is reminiscent of Monsters & Men by TFK, more or less my most favourite song ever. Not strange that I can only give this 5 (6,7,8,etc) stars. Incredible stuff.

I'm running out of superlatives here, can't help it. This album is so 100% my cup of tea, even more than TFK and I never thought that could be possible. Maybe it's the combination of three supergroups (Karmakanic, TFK and The Tangent (both in line-up as in songstyle by the way) that is the secret here. I simply can not believe what I'm hearing. I'd better stop before I start crying or something. This must be one of the very very very best albums in my collection and I was already so satisfied so far with that. What more can I say ? This album also saves this almost mediocre prog year for me. A superb masterpiece at last. Thank you, Karmakanic !

PS I forgot the last two tracks of the album in my emotional outburst. Two quiet, almost ballad like melancholic songs (first a short instrumental, the second with great vocals). 4,25 and 4,5* respectively.

One of the last (and best surprises) of 2008! And I must thank my PA friend Progrules. If I hadn´t see his review I´d probably skip this record. I had the first Karmakanic CD a few years ago and I didn´t like it: it sounded too derivative and some of the tunes seemed to me like just pointless jams, all done by great musicians, but definitly not my cup of tea. Well, it had a couple of tracks that I liked, but that was not enough and I gave that CD to a friend who was a Flower Kings fanatic (something I now regret). So I decided to forget about this project assuming they wouldn´t do anything better. But when I saw Progrules review (and others after that) I knew it might be good, since we have a very similar taste. The praising were so high I decided to take my changes and get the new album without hearing it.

Fortunatly all the reviews were right. Unlike its debut, Who´s The Boss In The Factory drips with conviction, passion and personality. And they are writing fantastic, symphonic prog songs! It is ok to me that the first track, the massive 19 minute epic Send A Message From The Heart sounds a lot like a Flower Kings tune, but boy, is it good! In fact it could be in any of TFK best classic albums of the 90´s. It has all the elements that made TFK the giant band they were: melodic, epic, complex, varied and holds your atention all the way through. That track alone is worth the price of the CD. But there is more.

In the second song bassist and leader Jonas Reingold seems to be revisiting his own hard rock past (with band Midnight Sun): Let In Hollywood is the perfect short track between two great epics, being at the same time different and totally in harmony with the spirit of the album (great synth solo in the middle). From then on all TFK connections fade away and the band shows they do have a very strong sound and image. And more importante, know how to craft fine symphonic tunes. It is a sound that is both complex and accessible. They have a host of guests featuring on this album (including the ominous Roine Stolt) but what it is very clear here is that they are just that : guests, for the band itself is the main atraction (something missing from their debut). Only Theo Travis (of The Tangent) sax is really outstanding on Two Blocks From The Edge.

It is hard to point a highlight since this is one of those few CDs that every track is so good and different from the other that you can´t really compare them. The three epics are my obvious choice, but all songs are excellent. Only the two parts of the poignant Eternity (Reingold´s homage to his late parents) seems a bit out of place overall, but it is beautiful anyway (fine, emotional vocal perfomance by Göran Edman). And it is a proof of the band´s versatility and great musical skill. I hear this record non stop since I got it.

Conclusion: a must have for any prog lover. 4,5 stars at least. Thanks again, Henk!

"Who's the Boss in the Factory?" is the third album from the Swedish band Karmakanic. It has its ups and downs, but I can unequivocally say that this is the must-own album of 2008. This is my first review so let's just dive in.

Send a Message from the Heart: "Send a Message From the Heart" is, without a doubt, my favorite song of 2008. Surely to be known as the magnum opus of Karmakanic, it is an epic that is all about change. The mood is constantly changing as are the musicians' roles in the song. Everyone takes their place in the background, foreground and everywhere else in the music which is part of its charm. Despite the shifting moods throughout the song, it is decidedly uplifting and happy. It has a few core musical ideas which are built upon, torn down, and rebuilt repeatedly which makes for a varied yet consistent piece while never coming close to boring territory. While it is highly impractical to give a detailed review of this song due to all the shifts, I will say that it ends on a high note with the last 3 minutes being a bombastic, full-force ball of energy with all musicians doing their own thing while still being cohesive. There is probably a grand total of 2 minutes of individual instruments playing which I find to be unnecessary or unrelated (mostly the keyboards) which is very good considering there are 4 instruments playing for an average of 18-19 minutes plus vocals. Everything else is, in a word, perfect. Had Karmakanic decided to release this song as the entire $15 album, I would still have bought it and not regretted the purchase. I can almost assure anyone who likes at least some symphonic prog will love this. A

Let in Hollywood: Even though I've only had this album for a couple weeks, my opinion of "Let in Hollywood" has changed wildly. First I couldn't stand it and then I liked it because it's so darned catchy. Now I think I have settled at my final (somewhat contradictory) opinion of this song. I don't like the song, but I can't help getting sucked into it; not unlike the Macarena in the 90s. Okay, I admit that may have been a bit harsh but I will still press "skip" more often than listening to it. Now for the review. As a standard rocker, "Let in Hollywood" is a disappointment after the fantastic first track. The song tells the story of a prog band soliciting their music to a record label only to be shut down because it isn't radio friendly (The Tangent's "Lost in London" is a recent example of similar lyrics). It follows the formula of verse -> chorus -> verse -> chorus -> instrumental bridge -> verse -> repeat chorus until end. As I have already stated, the verses and chorus are quite catchy but musically boring with the exception of the superb bass from Jonas. The instrumental part in the middle didn't satisfy me at all. Krister's repetitive guitar (which is quite reminiscent of Velvet Revolver's "Slither") takes control for the first half then slides slightly to the background to make way for one of the few highlights of this song: the keyboards. C

Who's the Boss in the Factory: The shift to the darker material starts with the title track "Who's the Boss in the Factory?" Without even listening to the lyrics, this song perfectly tells the story of a man wrongly held in jail on his way to execution. The beginning is the prison guard coming to the cell to get the jailed man who tries to plead for his life. The two start to walk down the green mile as the chorus comes in then the convict lashes out during the second verse. This song starts out with a very bleak mood created mainly by haunting piano and a few spacey sections. Göran and Zoltan enter a little after a minute into the song, both of them doing an excellent job at enhancing the mood. After about a minute of this, the song becomes harder and gains an industrial cold feeling at the chorus. I can't help but imagine a setting in Stalin's Russia, Hitler's Germany or Big Brother's 1984. There's this tiny string part that comes in at the end of the chorus that I absolutely love. That doesn't really impact the song because it's such a small part but I mention it because I absolutely love it. Anyway, back to the song. The verse returns now with an angry and accusatory tone (with some nice bass from Jonas) rather than the pleading from the opening. The piano here takes on a calming voice, trying to counteract the hatred conveyed through the rest of the instruments. Unfortunately, the goodwill of the piano cannot stand up to the other instruments and gets shoved to the background as the anger from the other players snowballs and intensifies. "Who's in charge when it's time to make the kill?" Then comes the return of the chorus. A few changes keep it fresh but there's too new there. Now an instrumental break. All other instruments continue doing what they've been doing for the most part although there is a loss of the uplifting piano through the first part. Keyboards dominate for over a minute. About 30 seconds in the piano reenters although this time it seems a little more somber. The bass steals the spotlight for a while although it's nothing too special. The piano then goes off and does its own thing at 7:45 and continues for quite some time. It's not impressive but what I do like here is the rhythm section of Jonas and Zoltan then they really lead the charge as the volume and energy picks up to go back into the chorus. Krister finally becomes a big player with two minutes left and does an excellent job. My only complaint here is that the middle section should have been cut down by a minute or so. Despite that flaw it does a perfect job when it isn't boring and for that I give it an A-

Two Blocks from the Edge: Oh jeez. This is easily the weakest song on the album. It starts off with some spacey sounds and keyboards. The electric guitar joins shortly and leads. It's pretty good I suppose and the acoustic guitar joins that 40 seconds in. Electric guitar begins to soar. Jonas lends a few notes to the mix before Goran sings solo except for sparse drums and a chord every few seconds from the acoustic. More guitar enters and finally the whole band plays together at 1:50. Some nice bluesy sax comes in and is one of the few saving graces of this song. A new verse starts with some strings which are very much appreciated. Goran starts to sound like he's singing in a country song at 3:15 which is a huge turn-off for me. Jonas comes to the front at 4:30 with some decent guitar work in the background. The guitar and bass do an excellent job playing off each other but there really isn't too much to listen to. The sax reenters around 5:30 in a bluesy/jazzy piece which is stunning. This piece does not go on long enough although it is without a doubt the best part of this song. Once it's over the repetitiveness from the beginning once again comes in. The guitar attempts to revive the song with some soloing. I guess it's technically ok but it does absolutely nothing for me. Perhaps it's because the song has simply tired me already and nothing that happens now can reel me back in which is unfortunate because the guitar goes wild here. Were it in another song I'm sure I would have loved it. With a little over 2 minutes left you can hear the song hearken back to the first track which is nice. The music fades out for the last minute in order to set the mood for the Eternally Suite. The sax from Mr. Theo Travis, while absent for most of the song, will likely be the only reason I ever give this track another listen. D

Eternally Suite: "Eternally Part 1" is a beautiful piano piece with hints of darkness from Lalle Larson. I imagine this song being played in an empty church that is darkened save for a few rays of light coming in through the stained glass windows. Judged as a standalone piano piece, I'd give it an "A," but as the intro piece to "Eternally Part 2" I have to knock it down to a "B" because it doesn't flow too well into Part 2. The music here reflects the grief felt by Jonas when his parents died in a tragic car crash before Christmas 2007. As a result there is little to no "showing off" from any of the musicians; they are all very subdued. The song accomplishes its goal spectacularly. There are so many emotions felt throughout this song, starting with pain and sadness, which then give way to anger. The guitar solo about two thirds through the song offers a strong feeling of bravery through the troubled times only to disappear when the chorus returns (with a resemblance to Dream Theater's "Grand Finale" from "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence"). My only problem with this track is that Göran's vocals are a bit too strained at times. Although I will rarely listen to this song, I have to rate it highly based on what it is. B+

Excellent Symphonic rock album from Sweden.

The album is a side project from the bass player from the Flower Kings. Frankly, I did not know what to expect, and I did not like the sample in this website (from another album) very much. However, the extremely high reviews around this net interested me. The cover intrigued me as well, thinking that this will not be light stuff like the Wheel of Life sample here in progarchives. When it arrived, I gave it a spin and got a little worried: the epic sounded very similar to the Flower Kings' positive side while the second track sounded like a throwaway tune from The Tangent. Fortunately, the cynical third track caught my attention, the fourth sounded very good on first listen, and the last two tracks amazed me. What about the first two tracks? well, the epic grew on me a lot.

Karmakanic's Who's The Boss In The Factory? is an album which seems to be divided into three parts:

The first part consists of happy and melodic progressive rock in the form of The Flower Kings and The Tangent (or if you don't know these bands, think of the melodic side of 70s Yes or Genesis). Send a Message From The Heart starts very innocent, developing its main theme, until it grabs you with another theme played in heavy format (I love that part), then plays the main theme on guitar and the singing starts. The music has its changes, but it always stays positive and around minute 8, there's time for soloing and the amazing Zoltan&Reingold rhythm section. Afterwords, the song continues its peace&love theme. Lost in Hollywood is my least favorite track and I do not like the fast-paced pre-choruses, but I admit that it has a very catchy and amusing chorus in 7/8.

The second part is darker and features two long tracks. Who's The Boss In The Factory is a cynical dark track with unusual vocal-led choruses in a Roger Waters kind of style. They might take a bit to grow on you, but are quite easy to singalong to. The instrumental break might be the best part of the CD, starting with a synth solo in front of a metal riff, continuing with dark and mellow moods featuring a piano, and finishing with an excellent piano theme that is revisited in the end with fiery electric guitars. Two Blocks From The Edge is probably the most accessible track. It is mostly a blues track with some twists, such as catchy choruses with strong sax lines. The song is not as dark as the title track, but not as light as the first two songs.

The last part is the melancholic part of the album, featuring the song Eternally which is divided into two parts. The music here has much less emphasis on being flashy, virtuosic, or catchy. It focuses on pure raw emotion instead, and succeeds at it. pt.1 is a beautiful piano solo played by a Weather Report founding member! pt.2 introduces the lyrics after a subdued introduction and are not too direct. This is actually a song written about Reingold's parents who both died in a carcrash. It's heartbreaking and you feel sad when hearing the music, despite not being dramatic in the case of The Cure or Radiohead. Eternally features accordion, which fits in perfectly and brings in an European flavor. You can tell the accordionist is a virtuoso and the notes he chooses are spot on. The climax is a beautiful guitar solo and after it, strings and piano remain until the CD ends.

Give it a chance, especially if you are a fan of The Flower Kings or The Tangent.

First, I'm a huge Flower Kings fan! So I'm perhaps biased here. Anyway, I think this is one of the very best side-project-albums from the Flower Kings family!! Why? It has got nice melodies, good chops, stellar musicianship, nice lyrics (with depth to them) and a way cool album cover!!! There are surprises too, nice surprises, such as the accordion in the very emotional Eternall Pt. 2, and the sweet little voice of Jonas' daughter in the very beginning of the album. I also love hearing the saxophone of Theo Travis and of course: any record with drummer god Zoltan Csörsz is a must-have!!!! So, go get, folks!!

My Review-First off let me say,That Im huge sucker for tfk or side projects or solo projects by tfk members.This is no exception,This is masterpiece by all proportions.Take the band name,You get Karmakanic.Meaning we are the kanics,That make either good karma in this world or negative.Whatever you feed out,Will feed back unto you some day.

The cover art explains it all,It doesnt matter what u did.It only matters,Who's the boss in the factory meaning the man upstairs.We all have to answer to him one day,It not what we are or what we did.It our intent and motive vice versa,That gets us the job or promotion we deisre.We worked for it hard,With cheerful heart not jealous heart.No hidden agenda or Ego Involved.

Goran Edman on vocals,Greatest singer in the Sweden territory is back.He can sing AOR,Prog,Metal,etc.He is amazing singer,Singing with Yngwie Malmsteen on 2 cds in 90s Eclipse and Fire and Ice.His voice never leaves you crying,But thirsting for more.

Send Message From The Heart-The 20 min epic opener,Boy is it good epic .Talking bout,How we need to send message from the heart and soul not just our mouth.It easier to say with our mouth,Then it is to line it up with our heart vice versa.The Intent also,Doing it right reasons.Not just cuz we have to,Or to get ahead boast bout,Our one way tickets to heaven each time we do good deed. They will be in vain and expired,When we deal with boss in factory.

Let In Hollywood-We need to let in,Glory of hollywood in our hearts and mind.Holy wood is good examle,It burns without fire and is produced by light.Light comes from the movie star,That lives in our heartsLlet us let him in today,To bring light in unvierse full of darkness hatred murder and despair..

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.)

I think that now, after maybe year of listening this, I'm able review correctly. Firstly four stars, not five. Back then, in times of first listenings, I hated one or two songs here, so I gave four. Then I even stopped listening "Boss" at all. Not by purpose, it just wasn't too interesting. I listened to these tracks from time to time, but nothing serious. Only those I loved.

But as the time went bye, this aged like a precious wine. Then I finally got the idea to play it all. To give a chance to these great compositions. And I did right. The end.

End of story of course, not of review. "Send a Message From the Heart", starting with less weird intro than a lot of TFK material does. But it's funny. We can hear many influences through the track by these guys (when looking at crew members, nothing strange)

"Let In Hollywood" was the one that irritated me. I found first few lines of lyrics annoying, cheap and so on. But giving it time, the song (even short) grows. And kicks the bucket of consciousness with fast pace.

Eponymous "Who's the Boss in THE Factory" (we're not gonna use word "da", right ? drugs are bad, you know kids, riiiiight?) is more similar to first song. In few things, like song length, in feeling and both are interesting. Chorus here is also present and they know how to do their job. New thing is keyboard solo (with chorus) which changes into another keyboard solo (without chorus).

"Two Blocks" starts like something which can be cheesy normal rock. Also with strange lyrics. This song proves that is good, but I don't like it much. "Hollywood" yes, there I changed my mind, but this one not too much. Most of it, yes, but end is the best.

"Eternally Part 1 and 2" is nice ending, first in quiet piano style, then turning into marching-like tone (huh? I mean one beat to drums, then four in quick tempo). Then instrument I'm not able to identify (accordeon maybe) which reminds me French tango style. Very beautiful ending.

Except "Blocks" I can't see any flaw, even "2 B" has most of it done right. Technically, there's no problem on anything, it's perfect work of experienced players.

5 stars, well deserved.

When I won this album on the PA monthly giveaway, posters said I was in for a treat. They were absolutely spot on. This is a cracking, fantastic LP, and one I am very grateful to PA for adding this to my collection.

The opener, Send a Message from the Heart, has epic written all over it, clocking in at over 19 minutes. The start is amusing, when a little boy grabs hold of the microphone and begins to sing. This gives way to a track full of keyboard and guitar solos of epic proportions and some incredible vocals by Goran Edman. As you would expect from a symphonic band's track of such a length, there are many mood changes, varying from the delicate to the very heavy. It is a very complex piece of music and more than worth the price of the album alone, although, as I will make clear, even this is not the highlight of the album.

Things get a lot heavier on Lost in Hollywood, as an acoustic beginning gives way to a powerful riff. It's very good, certainly for those who enjoy the heavier side of prog.

The title track clocks in at over 13 minutes, and I absolutely adore the thoughtful intro with piano and bass to the fore. The bass playing on this track by Jonas Reingold absolutely deserves special mention. When my wife & I played this for the first time at the weekend, both of us said it could well be Chris Squire - there is no higher compliment. At times reminiscent of Floyd, at others Yes, there are also some heavier moments, but throughout the musicianship is superb, and the mid One by One, Step by Step passage is a joy to listen to, with the bass literally holding all together. The guitar solo towards the end is also epic, with large and loud organ bringing a great track to a pulsating close.

Two Blocks from the Edge is easily the darkest piece of the album, and the sax pieces are very enjoyable. The rhythm section again keeps the track moving along at a fair pace. The guitar solos are, again, a joy for anyone who was brought up on hard rock. This track rocks.

Then to the conclusion, Eternally Parts 1 & 2. Quite simply the best new prog I have heard in many years. I am not familiar with the history of the band members, as such, but it is dedicated to family members who clearly died in a car crash. Part One is a lovely piano solo, and then part two really does tug at the heartstrings. Piano and bass in tandem create a melancholic mood. There are strings to add to this, and the whole piece shrieks with loss. Then, after one & a half minutes, Edman kicks in with such a heartfelt vocal, accompanied by, of all things, an accordian solo (certainly the finest I've heard in prog!). This track simply cannot be compared to any other band or influence - it is utterly unique. Again, when we first listened to this at the weekend, we were both reduced to utter silence, before I was instructed to place it on my wife's MP3 player - there is, believe me, no higher honour from someone not naturally predisposed to prog. But the mood, playing, including one of the finest guitar solos I have ever heard in 32 odd years, make a track that pulls you into a tragic event, but also uplifts you in the way that only the finest such tracks do.

The joy of this site is that it introduces us all to new experiences in prog. I freely admit that, prior to becoming a member, I had slipped into a comfort zone, and would never have listened to this and other bands. I think we all do at times. No more - I am hooked, and if you buy this LP, I swear you won't regret it. By the way, when you listen to it, see if you can spot the Radiohead/Deep Purple moment in the chant. I'll say no more!

Having thought long and hard, I am going to give this the perfect five. Send a Message & Eternally make it worth it.

A true message from the heart

No, I was not aware that KARMAKANIC is a side project of The Flower Kings. To be honest, it would not make any difference. When I was recommended this album, I had no idea of what to expect, I only knew it was some kind of new prog...

I have no answer to Who's the boss in the factory (I wish I had); what I know is that this album represents the new sound in modern symphonic prog rock, in the vein of The Flower Kings and Spock's Beard, or to put it more appropriately: what the sound of modern symphonic prog should be like: melodic but complex at the same time, creative and ''clever'', emotion-full and diverse. While the two bands mentioned above are the main references for KARMAKANIC's music, this album has a little bit of everything; extensive use of acoustic guitar, heavy prog breaks, saxophone soloing, top-level musicianship and many more...

The opening epic (~20 min) starts with an innocent childish voice singing the main tune and introduces a neo-prog mid-tempo rhythm on which the track evolves, usually balancing between symphonic prog rock and modern neo-prog with very strong and distinct bass lines. The brilliant voice of Goran Edman is definitely an asset for this band - a very ''warm'' voice with many capabilities in terms of diversity. The middle part of the track deals with experimental solos and a bit of jamming, which might sound a bit boring to some but adventurous to others; from there the sound returns to the opening tunes and the very melodic refrain lines.

Let in Hollywood is a prog rock 'dynamite' to my ears; a clearly heavy-prog track in the vein of PRESTO BALLET with influences from URIAH HEEP (some vocals) and PORCUPINE TREE (guitar riffs). The approach on this track, as the title implies, is more joyful and up-tempo than its predecessor and that differentiates it from the rest in this release that generally flow in a sadder atmosphere.... such is the atmosphere that kicks-off in the title track; melancholic pianos and dark vocals. The refrain slightly changes the mood with the multiple, highly skilled vocal lines and a charming melody. The track evolves to a mini-epic again with some inspiring bass melodies, jazzy pianos and choral vocals throughout. Here you can find some of the best tunes in modern prog - definitely the most innovative song on the record.

Two Blocks from the Edge generally flows in a similar mood but in a more ''ballad'' pattern with beautiful vocals again (I have to repeat myself). The use of saxophone clearly lifts the quality and the level of enjoyment of this track. ''Sensible'' bass soloing from Jonas Reingold applies the final touches. Eternally (2 parts) starts with a virtuosic classical music piano intro that continues into the main part of the song in a more melancholic way. The melodies bring to mind music that you could hear somewhere in the streets of Italy... a beautiful accordion sound accompanies the track throughout, full of emotion, enchanting the listener - one of the highlights.

The weak points (if you can find some) for some prog fans in this ''message from the heart'' might be the extensive soloing in some (limited) parts of the longer songs (that may sound annoying) and the very emotion-full approach in the musicianship (making the album sound too ''sweet''?). Apart from that, I cannot see any major ''defects''. The most distinct positive aspects to my ears are the fantastic vocals and the smart bass melodies.

Recommended to modern symphonic prog fans (especially melodic) - not recommended to those not keen on ''too much emotion in a prog record''... almost a masterpiece to my ears though I can understand those that assign 5 stars to it.

Talking about Karmakanic we cannot ignore the existence of bands like The Flower Kings and The Tangent as they all actually big family. As far as The Flower Kings concern one of the musicians that I admire his skills is Jonas Reingold (bass guitar). In The Flower Kings he has played his bass guitar wonderfully and in fact he is one of the best prog rock bass players of the 90's and 2000's. Well, the third rebirth of progressive rock was quite impressive with bands like Spock's Beard, Porcupine Tree, Transatlantic in addition to The Flower Kings. The interesting thing about Jonas Reingold was that during his spare time he composed music and joined forces with Roine Stolt, Jaime Salazar, Zoltan Csörz, Johan Glössner, Göran Edman, Robert Engstrand and Tomas Bodin, all prominent members of the progressive rock family. Karmakanic was born with good debut album 'Entering the Spectra' (2002) followed with 'Wheel of Life' (2004).

This third album titled as 'Who's The Boss In The Factory' (2008) represents the best release so far. It sounds to me that the band has been perfecting their compositions learning from their previous two releases. The beauty of prog music is when we previously had an album that was not quite impressive and later on we find another excellent release of the band we try to trace back the older albums. That comes true with me as I spin this album and I start to have curiosity with its previous release 'Wheel of Life' which when I re-spin the CD again I have another perspective about the band. In general, Karmakanic I could say is the prominent prog rock band of the 2000s as this album proves to me.

Do not try to understand, just enjoy it ...!

For me, this album is quite hard to understand and it reminds me to when I first enjoyed Yes 'Tales from Topographic Ocean' for the first time in the 70's. I think I spun until more than 5 times and I still did not get it quite right in my ears, so was the case with 'Topographic'. Then I remember with The Flower Kings 'Paradox Hotel' where I experienced similar thing. I felt that I was being 'topgrahicized' by Jonas Reingold and his friends. But when I tried to enjoy the music segment by segment I found the treasure on how great Reingold's bass playing in any segment I paid particular attention to. Not only that ?Zoltan Csorsz's drums as well as Lalle Larsson's keyboard playing. And I then tried to shift my paradigm from trying to understand the music to just enjoy it.

The major cause is I think because the opening track 'Send A Message From The Heart' is an epic that does not sound quite catchy at first spin and it took me many spins to be able to enjoy it. The track that consumes more than 19 minutes duration has practically little orientation towards a song because it changes unexpectedly in medium to fast tempo. Melody-wise there is nothing peculiar that I can draw from the epic but when I look into segment by segment movement it started to create an enjoyment to me and it really grew on me. And .. well, yeah .. I finally really love this opening track and its powerful lyrics. The ending part of this epic sounds like the epic continues to Roine Stolte's debut album titled 'The Flower King'. I think the band did it intentionally.

When the band plays the next track 'Let In Hollywood' (4:53), it does not really favor me especially the intro part that comprises acoustic guitar rhythm in fast tempo with energetic vocal line by Göran Edman. Unfortunately it's not something that creates enjoyment to my ears. But as the song moves I like the way keyboard plays its solo in the vein of Chick Corea in 'Return to Forever'. On top of that, the guitar solo is stunning and rockin' ?

The title track 'Who's the Boss In The Factory' (13:04) is another great track with intro part which starts with lyrical words 'One by One ?step by step' has similar style with Roger Water's 'What God Wants' in 'Amused to Death' album. I think the band was not aware of it and it does not quite bother me at all. This song is quite unique as it blends beautifully the components of symphonic prog with jazz rock fusion style like Chick Corea's 'Return to Forever' band. I can see clearly through the piano work by Larsson where he provides nice shot during the musical break where plays catchy notes softly and it moves wonderfully into jazzy music where piano takes the lead as soloist. Not only piano that sounds nicely, the guitar solo is truly stunning and rockin' ..it reminds me to the guitar sound typically played by Mick Box of Uriah Heep fame.

'Two Blocks From The Edge' (9:51) starts mellow in the Floydian ambient through the use of guitar solo. The song moves with saxophone as soloist as well as rhythm section at background when vocal enters. The song features nice bass guitar solo in the middle of the song. I am really impressed with Reingold even though he does not play complex bass guitar solo but the sound is really great especially when it continues with guitar and sax solo. Acoustic guitar also creates good texture combined with stunning electric guitar solo by Krister Jonsson who plays in different style compared to Roine Stolt.

The closing tracks 'Eternally Part I' (1:51) and 'Eternally Part II' (6:21) make an excellent closure to this album, overall. With the first part focusing on piano solo in classical and jazzy style, it opens a great gateway to the next final track, Part II. Part II is a wonderful track with great combination of bass guitar solo and piano touch back beautifully by string arrangement. Bass guitar plays as main melody while piano creates fills strengthened by string section. When vocal line enters it sounds jazzy style with clarinet serves as filler at back ground. It's a mellow track with great clarinet / soprano sax solo and excellent piano playing.

Conclusion

If I were requested to make review with only three spins of the album I would give only three stars rating because the music was quite hard to understand. But I have listened to this album in its entirety fo more than eight (8) spins and it really grew on me everytime I listened to it, I finally cannot afford to give this wonderful album with less than five stars. It's really a masterpiece! Remember, do not try to understand the music! Just enjoy it segment by segment. If you cannot enjoy it, use Sennheiser PX-100 (PX-200 is better) headphone on your ears and play it loud. I believe you would enjoy it. Keep on proggin' ..! ?because proggin' is healthy and it cheers your life, definitely ...!!!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

There are only a few albums every year I can call a masterpiece. Even smaller is the number of the absolute masterpieces like this one created by my favourite bassist, who I consider being the best on his instrument nowadays. The genre can be called symphonic prog in the veins of the classic bands, but on the other hand, it is characterised by the diversity and the integration of different genres – the way prog is walking on these days.

And Karmakanic neither have lost their jazzy edge, about which I have heard more times before (it has to be said that I've not listened to their previous albums yet). Not a surprise knowing the abilities and great technique of Zoltán Csörsz and Jonas Reingold, and it is quite obvious that they won't play just with anyone. Lalle Larsson and Krister Jonsson are especially talented musicians and in top of that Göran Edman's voice matches the music perfectly. He is a very versatile singer, every song shows a new aspect of his vocals.

The opener epic, Send a Message from the Heart could be treated as a "typical" long song with many solos played both on guitar and keyboards, but saying this would be a fatal error. The angle this song is something more than (or different from) lots of epics, is that it's entirely based around one simple theme displayed right in the first seconds by a child.

Then comes the "prog-hit"Let In Hollywood. I call it a "hit" since it can both be listened to and enjoyed by a proghead and a person with more commercial tastes. Groovy, heavy and rocking, the time signature of 7/8 gives the song a special feel. The parts I enjoy best are the cool keyboard solo, the last return of the verses and the final build-up. The song itself seems to me to be a lot longer than it actually is – five minutes can contain a good amount of diversity.

It doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you did, it only matters, Who's the Boss in the Factory! Well, the members themselves are bosses, Edman can really shine during the energetic and emotional song. I simply cannot write anything more, check it yourself.

Pink Floyd is recalled by Two Blocks from the Edge, the song which makes me want to sing along the most. The way it begins and then builds up to the chorus is classy, the use of saxophone (especially during the chorus) is wonderous; and jazz also arrives in the form of a bass solo. After the break the refrain doesn't come back in the original style, but with a singing guitar plus women's vocals. Then in the outro Reingold and Csörsz make a "tribute to Flower Kings", which is a fantastic idea: it is in a major key, unlike the rest of the track.

Eternally, Pt. 1 and 2 are simply beautiful. The short first part which only features piano foreshow the main melody, but the truly awesome is Part 2. Soft piano and bass can be heard throughout the song, with an additional accordion. I've not heard too many songs where this instrument is present, but this is obviously the best of them. When it joins in, you may feel like being in a Southern French city, and after a great solo, the guitar then takes over the leading positon, but so brave that it is almost undetectable. The catarctic finale and the still final notes are the perfect ending. (By the way, I feel the whole string orchestra a bit unnecessary, a violin could have done it, but this nullity is my only and biggest problem with this beautiful piece of music.)

I can't choose a highlight. In fact, there are at least four songs which could compete in this race, but what's the reason of just choosing one, if every other has something else to show. Don't ever hesitate getting this album as it's an exceptional release. I can cordially recommend it to everyone.

It only matters who's the boss in the factory! This time bass player Jonas Reingold - responsible for the songwriting and production. He's part of a musical family also including members of The Flower Kings, Kaipa, The Tangent and uncounted side projects. Don't know where this album/song title comes from (not that good in interpreting lyrics). I'm quite sure the relationship between those musicians bears more democratic structures compared to a factory. Otherwise it would be hard to explain how they could reach for such an excellent output. Now that I saw them live some weeks ago it's really about time to write my impressions down.

Looking at the core line-up there is only one member I wasn't aware of so far - keyboarder Lalle Larsson. But - no wonder - his contributions are really great too. And this kind of richness also comes from the vast number of friends who contributed to the album I'm sure. When starting to listen to Send A Message From The Heart - including a short intro offered by Reingold's son Alex - you might have the impression that this is another TFK effort. It's the epic song structure, the complete implementation. A cornucopia of impressions including Genesis and Pink Floyd references plus breaks and turns en masse. Starting with marching drums, mellotron, nice vocals ... and of course Reingold's accentuated bass playing showing an impressing bandwith from heavy to melancholic.

Not necessary to emphasize that this is highly melodic. All in all it has the spirit of 'Hotel Paradox'. You won't miss fusion parts dominated by synthesizer and Jonsson's jazzy guitar. But all in all this is a heavier sound. Second track Let In Hollywood is initiated by acoustic guitar but soon develops to an uptempo art rock thing with a harder vibe. The title track is much more epical structured once more. 'One by one, step by step ...' - the catchy main refrain is impressing - inviting for singing along really. Lalle Larsson's diversified work strikes - piano and multiple synthesizer layers and on top of it we are offered a charming bass solo.

Two Blocks From The Edge comes like another shouter so to say with a rocking fundament. Theo Travis manages the saxophone parts - nice, nice. Both parts of Eternally hold Reingold's emotional impact finally, reflecting the loss of his parents. So we have a melancholic piano presence first - later coupled with Reingold's bass and background strings. Then this song developes to a gripping ballad with great vocals by Göran Edman - wonderful!

This is a friggin' killer album - a highlight of the year 2008! Roine Stolt is (nearly) missing here. He's not the boss surprisingly, only appearing on one song but involved in the mixing process anyhow. Not a pure symphonic prog album - it's more - rich of different impressions and approving much experience based on a high level of musicianship and compositorial skills.

First of all, I'm not a huge fan of The Flower Kings type of music. I usually like more metal in my prog. This is the only album from that band that I owned. I bought it after hearing a couple of songs from it and thought this would be interesting and different. And it is!

This album is a treat. It is very nicely crafted. All songs are different form one to another and they are all very good. A lot of different musician contributed to his album, but the overall result is still very coherent and enjoyable. The more I listened, the more the music worked its magic with me and I ended up playing this CD quite often in between heavier, darker albums. It does sound so refreshing!

A Message From The Heart is a very enjoyable epic song right at the beginning of the album. Although I sometime found it a little bit too cliché, it grew on me with time. It gets even better after that. Let In Hollywood has a very good rhythm and is the heaviest song of the CD. Who's The Boss In The Factory? has something that reminds me of Pink Floyd with the backing vocals. The sax adds a nice touch to the already catchy Two Blocks From The Edge. The accordion is nice touch in the very melancholic Eternally.

Overall this CD is a very varied album, with no fillers. This album comes very close to being a masterpiece. A very strong 4 stars, highly recommended.

An upbeat and well performed album by some of the best musicians of the progressive rock genre, what can go wrong?

"Who's The Boss In The Factory" opens with(I'm guessing here) one of the members children singing "When the night goes silent and shadows come to life, send a message from the heart". This gets me every time, what a great line to open an album with, filled with optimism and encouragement. What better way to describe Karmakanic and their music?

The opening track is called "Send A Message From the Heart" and I think it captures Karmakanic's melodic and brilliant progressive rock and the big doses of optimism and happiness it contains perfectly. An optimism rather unusual for Swedish music, which normally tend to turn towards melodrama and suicidal tendencies(I'm Swedish, I get to say these things!). On their previous record the song "Alex in Paradise" practically made me jump in my chair from sheer giddiness. It's so upbeat groovy and tastefully complex! This trend reasserts itself in the first half and end of the opening track. While keeping things happy and upbeat, the band manage to keep it likable and balanced for the most part; skillfully juggling technicality and emotion without losing the one to the other. Although the overall feel of the songs are extremely positive there are "darker" parts that save the music from turning into a parody of itself(Hey, I said I'm Swedish. There is such a thing as too much happiness /joke).

Jonas Reingold's bass playing is just as fantastic as in the previous records with Zoltan Csorsz keeping things tight and groovy with him. Together they make up a rhythmic powerhouse that turn some parts of the album into pure gold. The other players performances are of course of the highest class, no mediocrity as far as the eye can see. Karamakanic is a band with some of the greatest instrumentalists of the genre, no doubt.

So the opening track is brilliant, quite fantastic even. What can then be said about the rest of the album? For me it never really manages to pick up from the insanely epic intro. The musicality and creativity of the members of Karmakanic is nothing short of awe inspiring. So much skill and tongue-in-cheek hooks and humor that it'll leave your mouth dry at times. But I felt like the album never really takes off after the opening. It stays in safe waters to the end, until finally finishing off with an almost too grand finale(we're talking marching drums here; they are pulling out all the stops!).

"Who's The Boss In The Factory" is a great progressive rock album which doesn't really surprise or add anything to the genre. You get what you expect from purchasing an album with members of The Flower Kings. It's very swedish progressive rock, very melodic and very lagom(swedish word for "not too much, not too little"),

3/5

Neo-sympho-prog is the kind of music I usually avoid but since this Karmakanic has got such a good reception I decided to ignore my recent Transatlantic trauma and have a go at it anyway.

Well I'm glad I did, even though, as I had feared, it has turned out to be a rather frustrating experience. Not because it is any bad but because I hear so much potential here that does not get fulfilled. Or rather, it gets fulfilled, but then crushed down again the next moment. Generally, this band plays excellent symphonic prog with lots of interesting grooves, progressions, solos and high-standard musicianship but, hmm, those vocals again.

The sticky finale around minute 17.00 of the epic Send a message from the heart serves as an good example, so much gospel-flavoured melodrama is hard to swallow, especially if you compare it to the great things they can achieve on the fusion infected guitar solo that follows right after it. Can a song get any more frustrating? How am I supposed to enjoy that solo without having to succumb to the vocals that precede it. (Well maybe that solo isn't all that great but just sounds good because the preceding part is so weak, a cunning trick for sure!)

The remainder of the album isn't much more consistent and keeps going back and forth between fun prog rock like Let In Hollywood and trite commercial rock vocals as in Two Blocks From The Edge. The title track is great and so is the album closer Eternally, at least till they decide to 'do a Queen' on it and spoil the last 2 minutes with bombastic pathos and big hallow sentimental gestures.

This time I can at least understand the excitement around this but I can't fully share it. Well, it's certainly a lot better then Transatlantic and I guess I'll return to listen to it. Still, frustrating, as it is almost so darn good. 3.5 stars.

Eternally Flawless!

I ve been listening to this gem since it was released and by the time I met this amazing band and other related proyects such as the flower kings, kaipa and transatlantic. By the way this is the first cd I bought in my collection.

It kick offs with a 19-minute epic track which I ve never get tired of listening to. Reingold´s bass is maybe the most important instrument of the band and what caracterizes it.

Let in hollywood, a very original and sticky track but it only makes a transition to the title song of the album.

"Who's the boss in the factory" defines this album, a very well crafted song, good chorus, and explosive ending! what else could have been?

Two blocks from the edge is one of those tracks where you sense the eclectic side of the band. Good saxophone and bluesy lyrics takes this album to the conclusion.

Eternally, this last song splited into two parts is one of the most emotional and mellow tracks I ve ever heard. Noticing that it is a track dedicated to Reingold's parents which died on an accident makes it more suitable.

Who's the boss in the factory is a very well crafted progressive gem. If you are looking for something new and fresh you should totally buy this one.

Second (or even third) class Flower Kings album

The Flower Kings is (or are, but anyway) a rather unique band that have released absolutely wondrous albums throughout its existence in such a way that, by now, the band has reached some kind of mythical place in the progressive rock Pantheon alongside with the traditional important progressive rock bands, such as Yes, Pink Floyd, King Crimson and Genesis. So, like it or not, those kings of flowers are a must for anyone that is exploring the world of progressive rock and is experiencing the many styles or sub-genres of progressive rock since its sudden reappearance in the early 90's, because they are such an important band for the genre for the past 15 years and released a studio album almost every year, having a rather extense discography.

However, in recent years, since the release of their 2007 album entitled The Sum of No Evil, the core band members begun working more eagerly on their own solo projects than on the band itself: Roine Stolt put out an album of yet another solo project of his, called Agents of Mercy, and got together with his old friends and regrouped Transatlantic, Tomas Bodin released two solo albums since 2007, which are called Cinematograaf and You Are (with another band called Eggs & Dogs rather than by himself, but he is the leader of it anyway), the second part of the trilogy started in the 2005 album I AM, and, last but now least, Jonas Reingold released this album, entitled Who's The Boss In The Factory?.

There is one problem, however, with those solo efforts from those band members of Flower Kings: since they are the main writers of the band, in one way or another, their solo albums will sound like a Flower Kings album, but, since they are solo efforts, the result is, most of the times, not as great as it could be. Karmakanic's latest effort is in no way an exception to that rule. Who's The Boss In The Factory? is not a bad album by itself, but the thing is there seems to be something missing, and THAT something missing is what make this album's overall quality suffer. Of course, there are new things here that you would not expect to be in a Flower Kings album, and those are very pleasant surprises, but still unable to fully bring the album up or to make the album brighter.

The only song that really stand out is the opening track, entitled Leave a Message from the Heart, which is a great epic, but honorable mentions need to be done to the enthusiastic Two Blocks from the Edge and to the melodic and sentimental Eternally (parts 1 and 2)

The highlights go to: Leave a Message from the Heart, Two Blocks from the Edge and Eternally.

Grade and Final Thoughts

Who's The Boss In The Factory? is a quite good album, I must say, but it is unable to give me any thrills beyond the opening track, and do remembers quite a lot that other Swede band called Flower Kings. Because of all that, three stars.

The Typical overrated modern symphonic prog album. Maybe it's just me, I didn't like it so much. I found it kinda boring and without any moments of enthusiasm that are usually typical of symphonic prog. The only good song for me is " Let in Hollywood", while " Send a Message To The heart" is a 19 minute song, which bores most of the time, being a useless effort for the listener. " Two blocks from the Edge" is similar, much less long (9 minutes), with very few good ideas. Even the Eternally songs aren't so good. I don't understand how many people loved it. I found it boring and not fulfilling at all.

Among proggers, this album was one of the most popular of 2008, and it gathered so many positive reviews I felt I had to check it out. The omens weren't too good: one look at the cover and I was afraid this was just one more product from InsideOut's prog factory. But "Send a Message from the Heart", the near-twenty minute opening track, blew me away. Rousing melodies, stately "symphonic" arrangements, wild Moraz-like synthesizer solos and surprisingly jazzy (almost Holdsworthian) guitar solos: the piece had it all. Besides, you could easily listen to it just for Jonas Reingold's magisterial trebly bass. It initially seemed that Karmakanic would have a better chance of impressing me with their "epics" than most of their coevals.

However, on subsequent spins the glory of "Message to the Heart" diminished somewhat. It probably depends how cynical a mood I'm in. On certain days I'm quite prepared to get carried away by fake-sincere vocals. On other days I just can't take lines like "Compassion leads your way into the sun on your way to paradise". I understand most symphonic prog bands try to sound uplifting, but a cliché is a cliché, no matter what.

And to my regret, the remainder of the album fails to reach the level of excitement of that opening track. The second track, "Let in Hollywood", is conventional Flower Kings-style rock based on a blunt hard rocking riff. The third track (the title piece) sounds like a superfluous attempt to rebuild THE WALL, although it's redeemed a little by yet another (brief) Moraz-style synth solo, and a splendid middle section on piano. "Two Blocks from the Edge" sounds worse: histrionic vocals AND histrionic lead guitar serve no better purpose than to demonstrate run-of-the-mill adolescent angst. Empty lyrics like "What's the question, what's the answer, this life is killing me" are chucked at the listener, yet the music doesn't speak of true emotion. (To be fair, the piece ends with some truly elegant electric guitar flourishes, but it's a case of too little too late.) The final track, "Eternally" (parts one and two), is Reingold's requiem for his parents, who perished in a car crash in 2007, and I hate to say it (in this case the composer's feelings must have been all too real) but music and lyrics are almost unbearably sentimental.

Verdict: Good in part, but not necessarily better than the dozens of other symphonic prog albums that get churned out nowadays.

I wish I liked this album more. The musicians are certainly very talented. But the album just isn't consistent.

It starts out spectacularly. The first track, Send A Message From The Heart, a nineteen minute epic, is everything a symphonic prog epic should be: grand in scope, different movements that flow perfectly from one pert to the next, and played by musicians who are easily up to the task of this difficult to master genre.

After that, the album tails off. The next two tracks are good, but nowhere near as good as the opening track. Let In Hollywood is a rocker in 7 (it even tells you this in the lyrics). It's kind of catchy, and pleasant. The title track, Who's The Boss In The Factory is fun, but not terribly prog. It reminds me a bit of the It Bites album I own.

Then there's Two Blocks From The Edge, this song is hard to review, because I seem to forget it right after each listen. That's not a good sign. And the two-part Eternally is just too light for my tastes.

Since the first third is great, the second third is just okay, and the third third is... Three stars.

I haven't had much luck when it comes to KARMAKANIC. I couldn't really get into their first two albums and had no intention of checking this one out until seeing all these rave reviews one after another. Well like the three collaborators before me I too have to give this 3 stars. This is their most impressive release by far in my opinion but there's too many moments that I either dislike or could do without to give it 4 stars. Lots of guests on this one including Andy Tillison, Roine Solt, Tomas Bodin,Theo Travis and more. The best part of this album is the former FLOWER KINGS rhythm section of Reingold and Csorsz.

The first track is the best on the album bar none. No complaints for this almost 20 minute opener. It's one of those rides that always seems too short. "Let In Hollywood" is catchy but i'm not enjoying it at all until it gets heavier 2 minutes in. It settles back again.

"Who's The Boss In The Factory" is a good track except for chorus which is very annoying for me because of the FLOYD reference which is all over it. "Two Blocks From The Edge" is good with the guitar crying out early. I like the bass after 5 minutes and the guitar, organ and sax that follows. "Eternally Part I" is a short piano themed piece. "Eternally Part II" is melancholic with piano and violin leading early. Not a fan of this one.

A good album with a killer opening track.

The Swedish progressive rock is all up with these last years.From Anglagard to The Flower Kings,through Kaipa and Pain of Salvation, this scandinavian country has launched some of the best bands in the genre in recent times.

And that's how I discovered I Karmakanic.When I looked at the band's name, I thought: Oh, my God.But the Karmakanic is really interesting, and in his third album, "Who's the boss in the factory?", they prove that counts.

The album opens with a little kid singing.This is "Send a message from the Heart," an epic of 19 minutes which is a song to get the breath. There references,since The Flower Kings (after the bass player Jonas Reingold, is also from TFK and drummer Zoltan Csörsz, has played on the album "Paradox Hotel"), Yes, Pink Floyd up Dream Theater (tiny, but it has). "Let in Hollywood is a very heavy rock, but still features the band . The title track're my least favorite, but the chorus is wonderful, especially at the end of the song. "Two blocks from the edge" was the first song I heard on the album-and band-and is simply perfeita.The saxophone is addictive! Finally we have "Eternally" and its two parts, the first a delicate piano solo and the second a song very sentimental.

This is a very good album, this band will only get better!

This album took a few listens to sink in for me, and at first I was feeling like it was pretty bland and a bit too smooth, in an almost "prog by numbers" way. This, however, is not really the case at all and may have been a case of some initial disappointment after the hype that was built up by reviews I saw here and elsewhere.

The opening track is the first and so far only truly epic composition by Karmakanic. Jonas Reingold, of The Flower Kings fame (or infamy, depending on who you ask) is the leader of this band, and is responsible for all the composition. Jonas is, without question, the finest bass player in modern prog and probably a top 10 bass player in the entire world. Yes, you doubters, he is really that good and if you listen to him playing in other contexts, you will find it hard to deny, whether or not you like the music. Send A Message From the Heart is a very well constructed epic with an upbeat main melody and lyrics which initially struck me as pretty sappy, but actually are refreshing in this age where so much music is unremittingly dark and dismal (I'm looking at you, Procupine Tree :-) It also features a fantastic jazz driven instrumental section.

Second track, Let In Hollywood, is a fun and quite complex track that ridicules popular music. I love the time signatures in this piece and the acerbic lyrics. This is followed up by the title track, which is a bit darker and slower paced than the preceding songs, but has a satisfying structure and some great lead playing. Two Blocks From the Edge is similar, but with a bit more bite and some great guitar playing. Again, a darker theme to the song.

To really appreciate the final two tracks, you have to understand their context. Eternally Part 1 is a piano improvisation by Lalle Larson, based on the main melody of Part 2. Jonas told Larson to just do his thing, and he did, and the result is a beautiful and skillfully executed introduction to the main song, which is Part 2. This song was written by Jonas for his parents, who died tragically a year or two before the album was released, in a car accident at Christmas time. So, understandably, is has a dirge like structure and features poignant, sad lyrics that nonetheless reflect his love and admiration for his parents. The song builds up to a powerful crescendo before ending quietly. A beautiful piece that had an immediate effect on me.

I should also point out that at 55 minutes, the album is not overlong (like many people are fond of accusing the Flower Kings albums of being) and to me therefore never really loses my interest. I wish more bands would focus on their strongest material and keep albums under an hour (though for some reason, I never have a problem with Flower Kings and Transatlanic's and related bands going for 70+ minutes).

Overall, I enjoy this album a bit less than the previous one, but a great deal more than the first one. This is one that I would say requires a few listens to really sink in and also that the listener cast off their prejudices towards modern symphonic prog. If you can do that, I think you'll be rewarded with a satisfying album. For myself, I would like to give it 3.5 stars, but will round down as this doesn't reach the heights that the previous album did instrumentally, but still features plenty of great playing. Well worth checking out for Flower Kings fans and fans of the other Karmakanic albums.

It's not everyday you come across a very talented group of musicians with a sense of humor and relationship with The Flower Kings (thanks to bassist Jonas Reingold).

Yet he's now got an official group that compares and now, even rivals that of The Flower Kings.

This whole cavalcade of Swedes knows how to make music, and they know how to do it in a humorous fashion (where else would you find a song in 7/8 with the band singing about 7/8?), seen in "Let In Hollywood". You can instantly tell on the opening of "Send A Message From The Heart". While the intro may have been better without the childish singing intro, you can just tell from the bombastic, somewhat lengthy intro that you're in for a 20 minute long epic. As such, there are some influences still lingering from The Flower Kings, yet as you transition from "Entering The Spectra" to "Wheel Of Life" and finally to this record, you'll notice the pattern; Roine Stolt was featured heavily on "Spectra", not as much on "Wheel" but the sound was still there. Here, there is no guest appearance by Stolt and this is the disc that creates Karmakanic's sound, not a "Flower Kings spin-off" sound.

One thing to immediately take off this first track alone; the keys are definitely more predominant. Yes, The Flower Kings used keys extensively, but mostly for symphonic and atmospheric purposes. I would consider this an Eclectic or Neo prog group myself. The technical ability of Lalle Larsson is phenomenal, as evidenced by his solo midway through the track. Of course, Larsson is a fantastic musician, but the sound of Krister Jonsson just screams "70's Pink Floyd" guitar. There are always those musicians who relate to having that special guitar sound, the one you can just pick out from a mile away.

I guess we can say he just loved that sound.

Of course, good songwriting helps too, and the slow, ballad-esque section in the tune exemplifies that. After all, Stolt practically built the entire career of The Flower Kings on happy, sappy, hippy tunes (obviously he drifted away from that philosophy, but you get my point), so you can obviously hear the resemblance there. Other than the fact that the instrumentation is fantastic, it's just your typical double digit minute long symphonic prog monstrosity.

"Let In Hollywood" is one of those quirky songs which, in most case, fail, because most prog bands never succeed in the "pop" department. Technically, this song will never make it to the Top 100, but it is a nice change of pace from the mammoth just before it. This 7/8 pop track makes good use of the time signature (and the lyrics that actually sing about 7/8), but despite it's attempt, I still hold it as a wonderful track. After all, when was the last time you heard a decent pop song (in general) in 7/8?

The self-titled track starts off in a more mournful, foreboding tone than it's larger, happier counterpart. It almost brings me to a sense of pop blending with Riverside or Oceansize, or more accurately, Tinyfish. Göran Edman tries to manipulate the title words into a catchy verbing, but to not much avail. However, it is a wonderful track that very much differs from "Send A Message". While the former stays true to the symphonic genre, the latter definitely touches on the Neo-prog side of the genre, even eclectic at times (evidenced by the mini funk rock section in the middle highlighted by an abbreviated Larsson solo). There still is instrumentation towards the back half of the track, highlighted again by Larsson, jumping back and forth between a Porcupine Tree song and a 60's raindance song. It's more of an instrumental buildup and jam, rather then a round robin passing game of solos and fills.

Of course, from a somewhat stale (depending on your point of view), instrumental wise, "Two Blocks From The Edge" starts off with that predictable, lovable guitar sound from Jonsson. Oddly enough, it seems to take another direction towards The Flower Kings, before the sax kicks in and it feels like "Boss, Pt. 2". Normally, this variance between albums would tick me off, but as I listen to "Spectra" and "Wheel Of Life", they were both more symphonic in style and texture. Now, this band seems to be embracing both eclectic and neo styles in order to broaden their horizon and create their signature sound. Remember, these guys are Karmakanic, not a Flower Kings side-project.

One thing I found interesting is why "Eternally" is divided into two parts. Eventually I realized part one was just an open solo for Larsson, while part two just stems off from it into its own song, although it still feels like a Larsson solo track. The added sounds of what sounds like a high pitched clarinet give it an almost, eh, "Italian restaurant" feel, for lack of a better term. It's a poor way to finish an album, but as a standstill track, it's a wonderful ballad of sorts.

It's truly a fantastic album, the defining piece of music for this band's repetoir. This album has clearly defined their sound with their mix of symphonic elements, to their dabbling of eclectic and neo prog elements, as well as their "Pink Floydian" guitar sounds and elements mixed in. Jonas Reingold has finally removed the "Flower Kings side project" label from this outfit and put this band to the upper echelon of modern progressive rock names like The Flower Kings and Spock's Beard.

This band shows that The Flower Kings is not merely a Roine Stolt vehicle. Karmakanic, led by fellow flower king Jonas Reingold displays a lot of elements of that seminal band, many of which I associated with Stolt. Yet even with all the connections, this is not The Flower Kings by another name. The bass is more prominent, naturally, and every song is augmented by short bass bridges. Note that I said "augmented." Highlighting Reingold's awesome bass chops is not the purpose of this album. Nothing interferes with the songs themselves. There are plenty of good melodies, strong lyrics, and top-notch musicianship. There are also plenty of good instrumental passages throughout.

The album opens with the nineteen-minute epic, Send a Message From the Heart, which is my favorite song. The cynical may see such a title, say "Meh" and pass on it, but with that time span you can imagine the piece goes through a number of twists and turns. It certainly represents positive orientation to music (as opposed to doom and gloom). Perhaps the weakest song is the title track, with its relatively simple and repeated chorus, but at thirteen minutes, it has a lot to offer as well. Two Blocks From the Edge is the hardest track, while the two part closer, Eternally, is dramatic and thematic, enhanced by some beautiful piano played by Lalle Larson. All the elements work together here quite well. Everything is designed to augment everything else. The final product is a seamless collection of well crafted songs.

Who's the Boss in the Factory represents the current mainstream of Prog, and what some would call Retro-Prog. It is Prog in that it has the sound, which was established in the 70s, and in that all the songs progress with variations and expansions of basic melodies and themes. Well produced and executed, the album hits on several levels. First, it is highly enjoyable and pleasant. It rocks, but it doesn't pound your ears. It is melodic, and avoids getting too catchy. The lyrics have meaning and emotion, yet fortunately do not wallow in the sentimental. So, one can enjoy without getting too involved with it. At the same time, the music is complex enough that a deeper dive into the sound will reveal much to be appreciated. A professional work all around, yet there is little that makes it truly stand out.

After listening to this album many times, I can say that it is very very good. It took some time to appreciate but I have arrived. Not a perfect 5, but certainly worth a solid 4 stars. Karmakanic have created a nice mix of pleasant tunes with my favorites being the title track and "Let in Hollywood". I believe I actually prefer this to much of the releases from the outfits these musicians come from. Especially The Flower Kings of which I have never acquired a taste for. As I stated before, 4 stars is fair. Hope something else comes along from Karmakanic.

Third album of Karmakanic named Who's the boss in the factory released in 2008 is to a little let dawn from previous one, who already was not a masterpiece to my ears. I saw that this album is their most praised one and I didn't get it why. Again the musicianship is solid, the excellent keyboardist Lalle Larsson enter in the team here and what he does is more then ok. I said that to me this is truly over rated, because has some very cheesy moments hard to like for my ears like Let In Hollywood and Two Blocks From The Edge, specially this later piece is absolutly filler. The only truly great piece is the opening 30 min track Send A Message From The Heart that show Karmakanic in good form but also a very TFK sound, much more present then on previous album. Not very much to say or add, even has decent moments overall, I can't love it and is far less intresting then previous release, this type of sugary symphonic prog with loveble instrumental parts is not really my thing, but in same time I can't say is a bad record. Hardly 3 stars.

Swedish groups have been at the forefront of prog ever since its inception with great bands such as Kaipa, the Flower Kings, and Anglagard, to name a few. So when I got Who's the Boss in the Factory by Karmakanic, I had similar expectations. Unfortunately, the album didn't quite meet them. I didn't quite feel the same strong songwriting of the band's I mentioned. There are a few nice melodies here and there, but they're few and far between. I also feel as though many of the songs are aimless and really don't go anywhere.

The opening song, 'Send a Message From the Heart,' is perhaps an exception. It is filled with catchy melodies and exhibits a diverse but identifiable structure, not to mention the musicianship is top notch. But even here the band is prone to some aimless noodling around two-thirds of the way through.

The remaining songs don't really contribute anything interesting. 'Let In Hollywood' and 'Two Blocks From the Edge' are popper songs with catchy hooks, and nice sax work in the latter, but are structurally predictable.

The title track and 'Eternally' just don't go anywhere. There aren't any hooks, and as mentioned, they just ramble.

After numerous careful listens I simply cannot find anything I like in this album, apart from the first song. Usually after five or so listens I am able to do a decent job of memorizing an entire album, but I simply can't with this one. Perhaps it is because of the lack of hooks and memorable melodies. Whatever the reason, there is much better music to be heard from Sweden.

4/10

Though I knew of the band Karmakanic, I had never heard any music until I picked up this album over the summer. A friend had recommended this album after seeing a prog playlist of modern bands that I had made and posted in a prog group on Facebook. Without even given the band a listen, I ordered the album and, fortunately, to no regret. (Credit going to my friend who clearly understood my playlist!)

I knew nothing of the band as I listened to the first track, "Send a Message from the Heart" but it wasn't long before I concluded that there were very strong similarities to the Flower Kings. Of course, as it turns out, Jonas Reingold (bass, fretless bass, keyboards, production) also plays bass with the Flower Kings. Additionally, Flower King keyboard player Tomas Bodin appears on this album and Roine Stolt provides some guitar and mixing, too. Now it all makes sense! Very much a song in a Flower Kings' vein.

"Let in the Hollywood" might be the weak track for some because it is short and sounds like it was prepared for a hopeful radio single. It has an eighties pop melody accompanied by a more hard rock sound that, in the middle, gets heavier (my favourite part!). The funny thing is that even though this sounds like it could have been a radio single, the chorus sings, "I can't hear a single / This song in seven eight". By coincidence, I had recently watched a YouTube video explaining simple time signatures in popular music and the video mentioned that Pink Floyd's "Money" is in seven eight. So not only was I able to pick out the 7/8 time of the chorus but I also enjoyed the ironic statement claiming this song couldn't be a single in 7/8 even though "Money" was a huge single success!

My favourite track on the album has to be "Who's the Boss in the Factory?". It begins like a requiem and then changes heading towards a slightly upbeat sound before turning into a proper rock song that then gets a little heavy again before easing back. The instrumental part stretches out a bit with some piano and lead guitar.

"Two Blocks from the Edge" is different but still follows the same thread of blending pop melodies with progressive rock music. The solo piano of "Eternally Pt. 1" is really lovely and it demonstrates the classical piano talents of, I'm guessing, Mr. Lalle Larsson (three people receive keyboard credits but only Larsson is credited solely with keyboards).

The album is, as I said, very similar to a Flower Kings album but with some touches, such as the piano, that stand apart from FK. One should also note that the bass guitar is often easy to pick out and even gets some lead work. One part is clearly composed for piano and bass guitar. I do love the bass, so this album appeals to my bass fetish side very nicely. (My playlist also included a lot of songs that feature bass guitar prominently and my friend mentioned above is a bass player.) As a modern progressive rock album it plays very well with my personal preferences being for the three songs in the middle.

'Variety and musical ideas rule!'

I had never heard of Karmakanic, the solo project by The Flower Kings bass player Jonas Reingold, but that has to do with the fact that I am not really a TFK fan. Between 2002 and 2016 Jonas released five studio albums, this review is about his third CD entitled Who's The Boss In The Factory? (from 2008) that I consider as his best effort. He has invited fellow The Flower Kings members Tomas Bodin and Roine Stolt.

The long first composition Send A Message From The Heart (almost 20 minutes) delivers very dynamic and alternating (from mellow and slow rhythms to swinging and bombastic) modern sounding progressive rock. It contains splendid keyboard work: from majestic choir-Mellotron and powerful Hammond organ to sparkling Grand piano, and a mindblowing Minimoog synthesizer solo with pitchbend in the vein of Jan Hammer in his best days, awesome! The guitar work is also a strong element, from a jazzy solo to Gilmourian runs and a fiery solo supported by lush Hammond organ, what a start!

The other five compositions also succeed to generate a lot of excitement, due to the huge variety and many captivating musical ideas.

Swinging acoustic guitar, fat R&R inspired guitar and a spectacular synthesizer solo in the fluent Let In Hollywood.

Wonderful interplay between fretless bass and Grand piano, again a fantastic vintage keyboard sound (from another flashy Minimoog solo to lush Hammond and Mellotron) to fiery wah-wah guitar and a compelling final part in the title track.

Tasteful keyboards, guitar and saxophone in the pleasant Two Blocks From The Edge.

Very beautiful Grand piano in the short piece Eternally Part I.

And again beautiful interplay between Grand piano and fretless bass along intense accordion work (evoking the Argentine tango masters), the Malm' String Ensemble and a compelling grand finale with emotional vocals in the melancholical final song Eternally Part II.

What a great effort, so varied and dynamic and what a crafty musicians, highly recommended, also after 10 years!

Here is another review that I wrote a long time ago without posting...

Symphonic lovers, you should be aware of this album. Superb vocal harmonies, gorgeous melodies, and skilled guitar parts. What else? I don't know, but you get them all during the very good opening number and epic: "Send A Message From The Heart" that almost peaks at twenty minutes. THE highlight here.

Huge influences from some of the major bands who are the soul and spirit of this site are of course abundant: "Yes" by default (but that's nothing new under the TFK umbrella). The guitar work is excellent and this epic is definitely worth a listen.

It is an excellent start by all means. Do I need to add that some keys parts are solidly being built? In all: a very good prog epic, my friends. The only problem is that to keep the same quality level throughout the whole album will be difficult.

There are no weak songs to be featured on this album. Even if the title song leans more on the heavy metal tones (some might say prog metal, but I have always been alien to this concept), but some jazzy parts might poor some delights to your prog ears. A nice attempt should I say?

Needless to say that not all of the songs featured on this album are on par. "Two Blocks From The Edge" is too technical and loose to be able to convince me. But it's almost normal to have some weaker numbers out here? Right!

The whole is flamboyant, crafted and mostly elegant. Still, a too jazzy angle prevents me to score it higher than three stars. But the closing and truly symphonic "Eternally" is really great. What an emotional guitar break!

It is a good album indeed. With several very good songs.

Three stars.