THE FLOWER KINGS: Waiting For Miracles (PROGRESSIVE ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

After a 15-year eclipse, progressive rock reemerged in the early 1990s. Certainly, it is no longer the bold and experimental music of the 1970s when bands played wizard apprentices for better or worse. If neoprog uses complex compositions and bars, he prefers well-structured melodies to improvisations and other dissonant deliriums of his elder. Nevertheless, in this somewhat policed landscape, two bands with a bright future cultivate their difference by playing the originality card, often flirting with the original prog, already known as "old school". Led by their respective tireless and charismatic leaders, Neal Morse and Roine Stolt, the Americans of Spock's Beard and the Swedes of The Flower Kings were on the way to successful careers.

Twenty-five years later, The Flower Kings still shows great vitality, "Waiting for Miracles" coming out barely a year after the excellent "Manifesto of an Alchimist" . Let's note that the (very useless) mention "Roine Stolt's" that preceded the band's name on the previous album has disappeared and let's also salute the funny cover that shows an elephant balancing on a house of cards, perhaps symbolizing the dare to still do "old school" prog in 2019.

Maybe The Flower Kings is the band that most honours the progressive rock of the 70s today. Without any passéism, in all modernity, with an impeccable sound recording, his compositions show a creativity that doesn't fade with the passing years. The complexity of each musician's scores, which fit together for a result of marvellous fluidity, is admirable. Skillfully alternating sung and instrumental passages, the former knowing how to make themselves easily accessible through their verse/refrain structure, the latter delighting us with delicious digressions, the album exudes an atmosphere both serene and dreamy and shows a homogeneity that its predecessor did not always have.

Guitars are often in the spotlight, delighting us with superb and numerous solos. More melodic than rhythmic, Jonas Reingold's bass gives all its relief to the record and reminds us of Chris Squire's. This is not the only thing in common with Yes : the solar compositions ('Black Flag','Miracle for America','Wicked Old Symphony','We Were Always Here') and the aquatic choirs ('Miracle for America','Steampunk') subliminally evoke Jon Anderson's formation. "Waiting for Miracles" also has some surprises in store, between the fake classical music tunes of 'Ascending to the Stars', the free style of 'The Rebel Circus', a pretext for skillfull musicians to please themselves and us, or the psychedelic atmosphere of 'Spirals'.

The miracle has indeed happened : "Waiting for Miracle" is one of the most successful albums of a band that already has a very enviable business card. The Flower Kings happily combines lightness and complexity for a result of great beauty. A solar and soothing record. - Official website

THE FLOWER KINGS

WAITING FOR MIRACLES

INSIDEOUT MUSIC

PROGRESSIVE ROCK