The Flower Kings
Desolation Rose

The Swedish kings of the flowers are back with their second album in as many years following their recent five year hiatus, this time they leave the banks of Eden behind and pick roses. A Rose of Desolation to be more precise, their twelfth album which sees the band having a slightly different approach when writing and arranging songs, they did it more on the spot and more as a collaborative effort. And they recorded it with some great classical old keyboard types, all very Flower Kingish if I am to be perfectly honest. It is also a conceptual album with a story about mankind’s failure to create its own paradise and how greed, fear, ignorance and all of that creates this failure. Not a very cheerful story it seems.

The album is very melodic, it sounds quite like Flower Kings tend to sound. It is imaginative, different, varied, deep, melodic, catchy and really well performed. It is also excellently produced, everything a long time connoisseur of this band have come to expect. Anything but this kind of thing would really be a disappointment when it comes to these guys. They say that this is the probably the most varied album this far by these guys and it is something I don’t really want to contradict. The story comes through best in its entirety, although it is not as one long track, it works quite well as standalone tracks as well but I would still describe it as best as a whole. The vocals are probably the best vocals I have ever heard from Flower Kings, this is definitely a high quality production.

No point in beating about the bush here, it is a great album that really appeals to me and my progressive veins. A highly enjoyable story, very cinematic and very deep but it is still very easy to take in and easy to listen to. The depth just makes it so that you will discover new and exciting things the further into the album you get, it is very impressive all the way through. And it is at its best when taking in the whole thing, from the start to the end as it is not built around a single hit song or so. For some that might be seen as a negative, the songs are very good all the way through though and in parts they could make up a hit song. Very good album, maybe not good enough to challenge for the absolute top of my list for 2013 but definitely one that I will keep coming back to even though I have now fulfilled my writing duties around the album.

In short, I can recommend this album for more or less anyone. For fans of the band it is a must have, for fans of great music it is also something you really have to take a closer look at. I think the only ones who can dislike this is those who enjoy music that I hate. So, for anyone with a decent taste in music this is really an album to take a closer look at and we can conclude that The Flower Kings keeps delivering the goods, impressive.

HHHHHHH