SWE | prog rock
If a band deserves the title "epic", it's without a doubt "The Flower Kings". For almost 30 years, the Swedish prog rock legends around their charismatic frontman and guitarist Roine Stolt have been enriching the music world with symphonic masterpieces, which "live on stage" are a very special experience in themselves.
Although Roine Stolt still has a number of other projects going on, he can look back on a proud record of 15 studio albums together with the "Flower Kings". The most recent work "By Royal Decree" was released in April 2022. "It gets down to business fresh and lively, the compositions are bursting with funny ideas and musical twists," said a critic of the leading German hi-fi specialist magazine "Audio". In fact, the "Flower Kings" show no signs of wear and tear over the years. The little bit of patina that some of the old albums may have had is mainly due to the limited technology from today's point of view at the respective times of origin. That's why the back catalog of the "Flower Kings" is now being successively restored according to the current standards and partly remixed.
As always, we can be curious to see what the Swedish prog rock kings will ultimately play during their live tour. Luckily, the often obligatory single hits have never been her thing. And that's good. Most songs of the "Flower Kings" last more than five, sometimes more than ten minutes and still never get boring for a second. On the one hand, this is due to the clever arrangements that run through a wide variety of moods, similar to an exciting film that makes you forget the remote control. On the other hand, the music has an incredible stylistic range with influences ranging from classic blues and the "Beatles" to "Yes" and "Pink Floyd" to 1970s jazz fusion.
In addition, another new studio album is planned for September, which will be presented on the upcoming European tour in October.