The Flower Kings - "Desolation Rose" released October 28th

[Progatron]

Add another title to the list of releases this fall!




1 Tower ONE 13:39
2 Sleeping Bones 04:16
3 Desolation Road 04:00
4 White Tuxedos 06:30
5 The Resurrected Judas 08:24
6 Silent Masses 06:17
7 Last Carnivore 04:22
8 Dark Fascist Skies 06:05
9 Blood Of Eden 03:12
10 Silent Graveyards 02:52


Swedish progressive-rock royalty The Flower Kings have had a busy year since regrouping in 2012 for the ‘Banks Of Eden’ album, and with a new creative vigour the band are following that with the fantastic new album ‘Desolation Rose’ due out on 28th October 2013.
The artwork, once again created by Silas Toball, can be viewed above and the band had this to say about the forthcoming release:

"Being somewhat of a political statement, the epic theme of "Desolation Rose" is a logical step in a time where perpetual war, famine, environmental threats, religious conflicts dominate the media and our minds. This is a time to wake up and the music on this album takes you on a journey where you are forced to questions what the mainstream media feed us and to rethink your whole world view on all of the above. This is in many ways a typical Flower Kings album but we have also taken it into another realm where we do take chances and where you may struggle to get into the music - or the lyrics - but trust me when I say that you will be rewarded, as this may be our most involved, important and interesting album ever. "(Roine)

[Smörgåsbord]

F**k me dead. I didn't see this coming at all.

But where is the 30+ min epic?

[Poisoned Youth]

Cool. No 30 minute track!

I bet some of those tracks run together though.


I wonder if there will be a SE. Either way, on the list for October!

[Teal]

Auto-Buy! Cool cover. This is the 1st I am hearing about this; Thanks Progatron!

[Rick]

cool. though, Roine's mention of a 'political statement' and that it may be difficult to get into due to the lyrics, is concerning.

guess we shall wait and see. looking forward to, though..

[Dan Marsh]

Yes, auto-buy!

[selmer]

Did not know about this. Maybe it's not my top prog band, but I'm always interested in what they'll do. It's just like Spock's Beard - not my favourite band ever, but some albums and songs are good.

[ScottAM]

Wow, I think we're all surprised at this good news! Great, I'm psyched to hear it, loved "Banks of Eden" and I look forward to this follow-up. Good for Roine looking to be a bit edgy, too. If I'm lucky enough to make it on the Prognation Cruise, they'll have some new material to play, too. I love how Jonas, Roine and Hasse just keep creating with all the bands & projects they're in. It's been really quality material as of late, too.

[Staun]

Like Rainmaker, maybe the idea here is to do a "song" album, without the epic. Loved Rainmaker so I'm looking forward to this. The fact that Roine is telling us that we may be challenged on this outing is interesting and may cause a bit of chatter after the usual forensic treatment.

[Gerardo]

Auto buy. Coincidentally, I was listening to their last one 'Banks of Eden' yesterday on my morning drive to work. Love the cover artwork, looking forward to it.

[Garden Dreamer]

Off the top of my head, previous non-epic (no songs longer than 13 minutes) TFK albums would be Back in the World of Adventures, Retropolis and Rainmaker. I too am a bit leery of the "political statement" part, but they've yet to make an album I hate, which is remarkable (unlike other favorites such as Rush and Yes).

[Don Arnold]

Yeah, auto-buy for me too. I don't often delve into the many cd's I have in the TFK's back catalogue (always too many great new releases in the world of Prog to digest and not enough listening time). However, I'm confident I'll get more than enough listening pleasure out of the new one for the lofty auto-buy status.

[mozo-pg]

I like what looks like a concise writing style and a thoughtful statement from the band. I was not a big fan of Banks of Eden but when I saw the band's tour stop in Quebec City last spring, they really conveyed a lot of guitar power, the most muscular I've seen them. Actually, the only other time was a NF where I feel they were cut short and likely under appreciated.

Bring it on! Agree - great cover. I'm in.

[Plasmatopia]

It's not like the political views are completely unknown and/or have never been touched upon before by TFK, right?

[JKL2000]

Christ, I haven't even opened the shrink wrap on the last one.

[JKL2000]

I wonder if there will be a SE.

If by SE you mean Special Edition, this place says there is:

http://justforkicksmusic.com/detail....id=16531&lid=2

They also have a 2LP + 2CD edition (which I hope doesn't include any content - musical or printed - that isn't included in the 2CD edition):

http://justforkicksmusic.com/detail....id=16533&lid=2

[JKL2000]

It's not like the political views are completely unknown and/or have never been touched upon before by TFK, right?

Also, it sounds like there's nothing so shocking about them - war is bad, the media's biased, etc. No kidding. Not that there's anything wrong with those sentiments...

[Fracktured]

I wonder if Roine ever sleeps

[Don Arnold]

Happy birthday.......













Roine!

(Sep 5th I believe)

[Rick]

It's not like the political views are completely unknown and/or have never been touched upon before by TFK, right?

true, but the line below indicates it could be more:

"This is in many ways a typical Flower Kings album but we have also taken it into another realm where we do take chances and where you may struggle to get into the music - or the lyrics"

lyrics have never been their strong suit, imo. however, i am more partial to the Garden of Dreams, Devils Playground variety..

not too worried about it. just hoping it is nothing extreme like Pain of Salvation's Scarsick, but i would be shocked if coming from Roine.

[mozo-pg]

I wonder if Roine ever sleeps

...or if he's a first cousin to Steve Wilson.

[PotatoSolution]

Awesome artwork!

Political-themed lyrics are always, always cringeworthy. Especially years later, when everyone's forgotten who the hell the lyrics are going on about.

Poor Roger Waters, it's now high comedy to listen to him rage about Margaret Thatcher and Leonid Brezhnev.

[Gerardo]

It's not like the political views are completely unknown and/or have never been touched upon before by TFK, right?

You are right, they have been touched before by TFK in almost every album but, it seems to me, always from a humanist perspective. The same goes with their songs about religion.

[mozo-pg]

Awesome artwork!

Political-themed lyrics are always, always cringeworthy. Especially years later, when everyone's forgotten who the hell the lyrics are going on about.

Poor Roger Waters, it's now high comedy to listen to him rage about Margaret Thatcher and Leonid Brezhnev.

That's your individual perspective on Roger, I think Roger was bang on. In terms of political songs, there are hundreds and hundreds of meaningful lyrics, ever heard Gabriel's Biko (it heightened my awareness as a teenager) or U2's Pride (both about non-violent resistance towards the state?
The political cat was let out of the box on this thread and I'll add nothing further so the focus is on a potentially great release.

[Adm.Kirk]

Roine, Steve Wilson, Billy Sherwood, Warren Haynes... none of these men must sleep or eat. All they do is make music or work on music. I used to think Zappa was a busy guy when he would put out 3 or 4 albums in a year. These people make him look like he was standing still.

Bill