Artist: The Flower Kings

Title: Meet The Flower Kings

Label: InsideOut Music

Year of Release: 2003

InsideOut Music website

Tracks:

Disc One:
1. The Truth Will Set You Free [31:20]
2. Garden of Dreams, part one [27:07]
3. Garden of Dreams, part two [17:20]

Disc Two:
1. Humanizzimo [23:10]
2. Circus Brimstone [16:23]
3. Silent Inferno [16:13]
4. Stardust We Are [26:25]

The Review:

The Flower Kings are notorious for producing double cd after double cd. Some think they should cut back, others think they’re doing a fine job. I’m with the latter. Sometimes bands put out a cd that leaves you wanting more. Also The Flower Kings have two types of critisims about them, one good and one not so good. They’re labeled as “neo-prog” but in all honesty they’re closer to what a classic symphonic progressive band would sound like if they didn’t sell out.

Well enough of my soap box, let’s get down to the music shall we? Good! Meet The Flower Kings is a double “live” cd that showcases their epic songs from day one to Unfold The Future. I’ve seen them live twice and I wished I could have witnessed this event. It was recorded in Sweden with a close group of fans acting as the audience.

The band is as majestic as always but shows that their true calling is a live band, especially with the inclusion of Daniel Gildenlow (Pain of Salvation) on guitar, vocals, keyboards and percussion. Daniel adds a new dimension to The Flower Kings overall sound. One song in particular is “Stardust We Are”, which is one of my favorites of theirs One “gripe”, if you can call it that, is Garden of Dreams, spilt into two parts. Other than that this is a primo collection and will have repeat listens for days and years to come.

If you’re a fan of old school symphonic progressive rock, do yourself a favor and pick this up. It is by far one of the best live recordings to date!.

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on January 13th, 2004

Reviewed Discography

Related reviews by this artist/band at ProgNaut.com.

Copyright © 1998-2013, ProgNaut.com, All Rights Reserved.