|
The
Kings of symphonic rock are back. You may ask, where they ever gone?
Well, it depends on your view-point, of course. The band released an
album each year, but as kings of symphonic rock they hadn’t done
this since “Flower Power”. Each album was excellent, but sometimes a
bit too jazzy, a bit too complex for the real sympho lover. It gave
the impression that the song was inferior to the technicality, that
the skill was more important than the compositions. And now this
‘lack’ has been filled up again.
On
‘Adam & Eve’, the quality of the songs again prevails and they prove
it right away with the first track “Love Supreme”. The track clocks
about 20 minutes and contains everything a good prog song needs: a
fine composition, the right choice of instruments, changes in pace,
highly skilled solos and the necessary attention for the right
feeling and atmosphere. And this song also has a great Yes (from
their heydays) feeling and some recognizable classic themes. Or, to
make a long story short, it’s a song to clasp to your heart.
This
opener surely is a trend-setter, because the shorter tracks also
spread the atmosphere of the early TFK tracks. “Cosmic Circus”,
“Babylon” & “Starlight Man” would have fitted perfectly on ‘Stardust
We Are’ or ‘Retropolis’.
Of
course, there are quite a few surprises, some very pleasant,
because, as you can hear in “A Vampires View”, Daniel Gildenlöw, now
a full member of TFK, has brought very positive influences to the
band. This track combines the symphonic character of TFK with the
threatening, more aggressive (read progressive) influences of
Gildenlöw. Don’t forget, Pain Of Salvation is known as one of the
most progressive bands. Brilliant vocals by Daniel, but who expected
anything less?
The
piano-playing of Tomas Bodin on “Days Gone By” could be used as a
film score for a movie from the thirties. The title of this
instrumental track has been very well chosen.
I
won’t give any opinion on whether Gildenlöw had an influence on the
title track “Adam & Eve” to make it a bit heavier. But it surely
bends more to prog metal, although this track contains some Zappaian
interventions. So you see they didn’t loose any of their
inventiveness.
The
intro of “Timelines” completely puts you on the wrong track. After
the rather “prog metal with Zappa influences” intro, this song gets
a turn to a more typical Flower Kings track. An extremely clever
blues (jazz) guitar lifts this song to one of the better tracks of
the CD.
The
second longest track of the album takes you on a frantic ride
through a very varied prog landscape. Together with the opening
track this song confirms the known saying that the longest tracks
are the best. Somewhere around the 11th minute, the song
gets quiet to slowly build up again with a bluesy guitar. The guitar
solos during the second part of “Drivers Seat” have a bit of a
Hendrix feeling.
However, the best guitar solo has been saved for last. After a
built-up from the keyboards, this instrumental “The Blade Of Cain”
comes to an apotheosis of sounds with the guitar of Roine Stolt in
the leading part. This song invites you immediately to push the
start button again and Gildenlöw’s lamentation for “Love Supreme”
isn’t the only reason.
Don’t
think this album reveals all of its secrets after one listening. As
often, this album of TFK has an insert that says: “Look out! The
feeling of satisfaction with this product will only be obtained
after repetitive use!” But surely this can’t scare you off, being
the symphonic and progressive rock fan, on the contrary!
J |
