The Flower Kings really do sound like the name suggests, so not having really come across them before I had naively assumed that they were either British or American survivors from the age of peace and love whose brains were sufficiently unfried from the excesses of the age to still be still going after many decades.
That will teach me… The reality is they hail from Sweden and although they’ve managed an impressive 17 album discography since kicking off in 1994, it’s more likely that the origins came from their parents’ vinyl collections (particularly Yes), rather anything related to acid casualty survivor guilt.
Like many acts, the line-up has struggled with consistency over the decades, but the beating heart remains the multi-instrumental original members Roine Stolt and Hasse Fröberg, whose joint vocal and guitar harmonies are the backbone of the band’s sound, but with founding bassist Michael Stolt back in the band that tight and cohesive feel fully extends into the rhythm section as well.
Like many acts, the line-up has struggled with consistency over the decades, but the beating heart remains the multi-instrumental original members Roine Stolt and Hasse Fröberg, whose joint vocal and guitar harmonies are the backbone of the band’s sound, but with founding bassist Michael Stolt back in the band that tight and cohesive feel fully extends into the rhythm section as well.
It’s a loosely conceptual piece which basically preaches the centuries old message that everything would be fine if we could all just be a bit nicer to each other, but I find myself very quickly drawn into the musical interplay over the lyrics, because these chaps really are rather fine musicians.
It's a lengthy opus as you would expect from Prog of this ilk, but it avoids overlong and overwrought epics in favour of an eclectic mixture of a dozen tracks that show a very broad range of mood and style.
It's a lengthy opus as you would expect from Prog of this ilk, but it avoids overlong and overwrought epics in favour of an eclectic mixture of a dozen tracks that show a very broad range of mood and style.
The difference between Prog and the improvisational Jazz that went into the genetic mix way back when is simply that the solos and doodling are more likely to be consistent from show to show if the band played live, but this album brilliantly evokes the more on the edge feeling of jazz by sounding fresh and off the cuff when it starts getting instrumental.
It’s clearly not – it’s too well produced for that, but it still retains the feel that someone just left the tape running whilst they were jamming in places, despite being tight as a gnat’s bumhole in the execution, given that the improvisation brings in some pretty eclectic instrumental sounds that by necessity need a little bit more pre-planning than noodling endlessly on a fender and Hammie organ combo of the 60’s and 70’s.
There’s a couple of punchy numbers at the outset to wake you up, but fundamentally like all good Prog this is a case of site back and listen to the musicians, but where this stands high is that the band sound like a cohesive living breathing thing, rather than a collection of soloing virtuosos, despite clearly and understatedly possessing that very same talent.
There’s a couple of punchy numbers at the outset to wake you up, but fundamentally like all good Prog this is a case of site back and listen to the musicians, but where this stands high is that the band sound like a cohesive living breathing thing, rather than a collection of soloing virtuosos, despite clearly and understatedly possessing that very same talent.
Subtle, but effective. 7/10
Cirith Ungol - Live At The Roxy (Metal Blade Records) [Matt Bladen]
Recorded at the legendary Roxy Theatre on the Sunset Strip in 2024, Live At The Roxy is a record that captures a single show in time. Epic metal band Cirith Ungol playing the release show for their tenth album Dark Parade.
Cirith Ungol - Live At The Roxy (Metal Blade Records) [Matt Bladen]
Recorded at the legendary Roxy Theatre on the Sunset Strip in 2024, Live At The Roxy is a record that captures a single show in time. Epic metal band Cirith Ungol playing the release show for their tenth album Dark Parade.
Advertised as a "one-night-only" experience we now get a full recording of the show which sees Cirith Ungol at full power. They played the Roxy in 1983 at a landmark gig organised by Metal Blade founder Brian Slagel so it's a special venue for them leaving them no choice but to hold this historic show there.
Recorded without overdubs or records, you get a raw power from the show, no trickery just epic heavy metal with bags of attitude and power the core Until trio of Tim Baker's unique vocals, Robert Garven's sledgehammer drumbeat and Greg Lindstrom's heavy riff are joined by long time guitarist Armand John Anthony and recent bassist Jarvis Leatherby. The 2024 line up of the band just as strong as any previous incarnation.
You can hear that this was an intimate show, the crowd is very audible but the sound is extremely authentic to how the band play on record, featuring the Dark Parade in full plus some classic songs from their repertoire it's obviously the classics that go down better with the bigger doom-laden sound but they are perhaps more accomplished than ever due to the experience of the band.
At nearly 2 hours long and with a whole album within the setlist, this is a record for hardcore fans however it does a great job of showcasing the on stage presence and power of one of Americans cult bands. 7/10
Cancer - Inverted World (Peaceville) [Matt Bladen]
British death metal band Cancer have had a turbulent existence. Having broken up and reformed twice John Walker is the only original memeber in the current line up, but they have been back as a band since 2013.
Recorded without overdubs or records, you get a raw power from the show, no trickery just epic heavy metal with bags of attitude and power the core Until trio of Tim Baker's unique vocals, Robert Garven's sledgehammer drumbeat and Greg Lindstrom's heavy riff are joined by long time guitarist Armand John Anthony and recent bassist Jarvis Leatherby. The 2024 line up of the band just as strong as any previous incarnation.
You can hear that this was an intimate show, the crowd is very audible but the sound is extremely authentic to how the band play on record, featuring the Dark Parade in full plus some classic songs from their repertoire it's obviously the classics that go down better with the bigger doom-laden sound but they are perhaps more accomplished than ever due to the experience of the band.
At nearly 2 hours long and with a whole album within the setlist, this is a record for hardcore fans however it does a great job of showcasing the on stage presence and power of one of Americans cult bands. 7/10
Cancer - Inverted World (Peaceville) [Matt Bladen]
British death metal band Cancer have had a turbulent existence. Having broken up and reformed twice John Walker is the only original memeber in the current line up, but they have been back as a band since 2013.
Their sixth studio album came in 2018 after a long wait but now after another long wait they look to savage the world again with seventh album Inverted World.
Cancer come from the early death metal scene so they switch between thrash influenced speed and doomy slow moving riffs, doing between both with ease as they grind you down on When Killing Isn't Murder or blow your head off with Covert Operations.
Cancer come from the early death metal scene so they switch between thrash influenced speed and doomy slow moving riffs, doing between both with ease as they grind you down on When Killing Isn't Murder or blow your head off with Covert Operations.
It's not all full pelt violence though as Jesue For Eugenics is evil and foreboding from a slow burn beginning into thundering death doom.
The influx of new blood has made this album their most vicious, echoing the volatile blasts of gore-soaked death they subjected the world to on their debut To The Gory End, 35 years ago, but with all of the world weary experience of band formed in the early 90's.
The influx of new blood has made this album their most vicious, echoing the volatile blasts of gore-soaked death they subjected the world to on their debut To The Gory End, 35 years ago, but with all of the world weary experience of band formed in the early 90's.
The pummeling of Until They Died and the title track shifts towards the grooving 39 Bodies while Test Site increases the speed as it tells of the Nuclear tests in New Mexico.
Contemporaries of Bolt Thrower, Carcass, Benediction, Cancer are OSDM but their sound perhaps is more on the American side of things with Obituary and Massacre the closest. 35 years on, Cancer still have that Brit-death potency but with a modern polish. 8/10
Hangfire – Burn (Rottweiler Records) [Simon Black]
Hailing from Washington State, Hangfire are a band formed of a combination of hands both young and old, whose musical tastes here clearly state the opinion that old Metal is the best Metal.
Contemporaries of Bolt Thrower, Carcass, Benediction, Cancer are OSDM but their sound perhaps is more on the American side of things with Obituary and Massacre the closest. 35 years on, Cancer still have that Brit-death potency but with a modern polish. 8/10
Hangfire – Burn (Rottweiler Records) [Simon Black]
Hailing from Washington State, Hangfire are a band formed of a combination of hands both young and old, whose musical tastes here clearly state the opinion that old Metal is the best Metal.
I don’t disagree with them, but in an age where there are a thousand other bands sharing exactly the same point of view, and with many of the originals of the day still treading the boards (albeit more delicately), you really need to have something exceptional in your repertoire to stand out above the melée.
The sound is pure 80’s in approach, although to be fair it runs the gamut of the metal spectrum – touching on moodier aspects of the time, going a little more aggressive and Thrashy at times, but fundamentally staying firmly in the feel of NWOBHM-era Judas Priest and all that went with them, before too much hairspray and the obsession with a hit video on MTV became more important than crafting good songs in long play album format.
On the subject of which, they don’t do too badly on that front. There’s clearly a lot of experience in this four piece, bringing with it the key ingredients necessary to craft a good song-structure, but there’s something not quite there yet in the overall end result. More on that shortly…
The sound is pure 80’s in approach, although to be fair it runs the gamut of the metal spectrum – touching on moodier aspects of the time, going a little more aggressive and Thrashy at times, but fundamentally staying firmly in the feel of NWOBHM-era Judas Priest and all that went with them, before too much hairspray and the obsession with a hit video on MTV became more important than crafting good songs in long play album format.
On the subject of which, they don’t do too badly on that front. There’s clearly a lot of experience in this four piece, bringing with it the key ingredients necessary to craft a good song-structure, but there’s something not quite there yet in the overall end result. More on that shortly…
Musically these folks do a fine job, but it’s the significant vocal talents of Jenea Fiore that steal the show for me. She has one hell of a range on her – not just the usual multi-octave gymnastics that any lover of all things Dickinson, Dio and Halford would need to even register on the scale of relevance, but with the range of tone she also possesses.
It’s expected that a strong female voice can shred on the soprano end of the scale, but she scales all the way down and deeply into the contralto on several occasions, and that is no mean feat given that she does it without losing any of the power, depth and emotion along the way.
So, what’s missing? For me the songs are structured well, but a little too systematically. Listen back to old 80’s era Priest or some such, and at the heart of a timeless classic is a tale from the road, or a life-impacting incident which snowballs under its own weight and rolls the music with it to create unique and memorable piece of music that lasts the decades, but I am struggling to find anything here that achieves that timeless result.
So, what’s missing? For me the songs are structured well, but a little too systematically. Listen back to old 80’s era Priest or some such, and at the heart of a timeless classic is a tale from the road, or a life-impacting incident which snowballs under its own weight and rolls the music with it to create unique and memorable piece of music that lasts the decades, but I am struggling to find anything here that achieves that timeless result.
It’s good, but it feels a bit too manufactured, and lacking a distinctive overall band sound. This is where the vocal range works against them, because it again makes it hard to pin down what their sound is.
That said this is hugely promising, and clearly going in the right direction, and I’ve heard plenty of debut albums that were far more lacking but did not hold back the band one jot. 6/10
That said this is hugely promising, and clearly going in the right direction, and I’ve heard plenty of debut albums that were far more lacking but did not hold back the band one jot. 6/10
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