THE FLOWER KINGS

By Royal Decree INSIDEOUT

IT’S AN OLD-SCHOOL FLOWER KINGS RECORD ON MANY LEVELS.

Steady evolution by way of looking back in time.

Demonstrating how successfully The Flower Kings have recovered from their “difficult” fracturing and the departure of longtime keyboard player, Tomas Bodin, the ever-productive Roine Stolt captains his band through the seas of creativity for their third double CD album in two years. With Zach Kamins and Mirko DeMaio firmly settled on keyboards and drums respectively, By Royal Decree is an old-school TFK album on a few levels.

With pandemic restrictions eased, much of the album was developed and recorded with the core band in the studio together. In addition, Stolt has revisited previously unheard material, some of it dating back to before The Flower Kings existed. A further “going back in time” element is the re-appearance of Michael Stolt, Roine’s brother, who last played bass on a Flower Kings album some 20 years ago.

There are classic Flower Kings moments, with both opener The Great Pretender and World Gone Crazy delivering big themes with Hasse Fröberg singing his heart out in the former and the merest sniff of a Neal Morse influence in the writing of the latter. Elsewhere A Million Stars delivers restrained majesty, there’s the slow poignancy of The Darkness In Your Eyes with tasteful contributions by Rob Townsend on sax, and the crafted beauty and masterful guitar of Roine himself – check out the soloing at the start of Funeral Pyre and his fretboard antics in The Soldier and Evolution.

Lyrically, the album revolves around many established Flower Kings themes – reflections on the wonder and beauty of the world around us and the vastness of space, the discussions on the nature of truth and falsehoods, and the exhortations to strive to be better versions of ourselves.

Whether a function of the closer working environment or a developing musical rapport, the arrangements and orchestrations on By Royal Decree are particularly pleasing – check out the aforementioned instrumental Evolution and how it stitches keyboards, bass and Hasse Bruniusson’s percussion contributions together.

Apart from the lack of a 20-plus minute epic, By Royal Decree delivers everything one might want and expect from The Flower Kings. Although it’s hard to predict whether it will grow in fans’ affections in the way that Space Revolver, Unfold The Future or the more recent Banks Of Eden debatably have, By Royal Decree is nonetheless a superb document from one of the most pre-eminent symphonic prog bands currently active and demonstrates what’s possible with a combination of musical ambition, sheer talent, unashamed honesty about influences and the creative machine that is Roine Stolt.