Banks of Eden by The Flower Kings

Banks of Eden by The Flower Kings, released in 2012 after a five-year hiatus, marked a return to the top of  Roine Stolt's band's charts.

The Flower Kings are a Swedish progressive rock band formed in 1994 by guitarist Roine Stolt. The band evolved from Stolt's 1994 solo project,  The Flower King, and has since evolved into a band that has produced numerous albums in a symphonic rock style, featuring many tempo changes and polyrhythms, sweeping bass lines, beautiful vocal harmonies, and generally long songs, as well as beautiful prog suites.

After accustoming us to sunny melodies, this album features a darker sound, progressive rock influenced by classic '70s melodic sounds, with excellent performances from the entire band, particularly new drummer Felix Lehrmann and the great Jonas Reingold on bass, whom we featured on the occasion of the release of his beautiful 2025 album,  Transmutation dei Karmakanic.

The very long opening suite "Numbers" (over twenty-five minutes) and the track "For The Love Of Gold" are beautiful, in keeping with the band's signature sound. "Pandemonium" and "For Those About To Drown" mark a shift: darker, slower-tempo songs, heavier guitar, and Stolt's vocal range shifts, more in keeping with the heavier sound of the two songs.

The closing track, "Rising the Imperial," is also beautiful. It builds from a soft start to a powerful sound, featuring a great guitar solo by Roine Stolt and excellent vocals by Hasse Froberg.

This album is different from their previous ones; I personally consider it among the band's best, but it doesn't surpass "Stardust We Are" and "Unfold The Future," which in my opinion are their best albums.

The artwork is truly beautiful.

A highly recommended album for lovers of the nuanced “Stolt-esque” sound and the symphonic rock that this band has been pursuing since the 90s with great passion and innovation.

Note: All links to the musicians' works are in the TAGS under the article title or on the "Artists" page.

Tracklist

1. Numbers (25:27)
2. For the Love of Gold (7:26)
3. Pandemonium (6:09)
4. For Those About to Drown (7:06)
5. Rising the Imperial (7:52)

Duration 54:00

LineUp

- Hasse Fröberg - voce, chitarra
- Roine Stolt - chitarre (elettrica, lap steel, acustica a 6 e 12 corde), EBow, ukulele, Minimoog Voyager, voce, produttore e mixaggio
- Tomas Bodin - Hammond B3, Fender Rhodes, Minimoog Voyager, Nord Electro, sintetizzatori software
- Jonas Reingold - bassi a 4 e 5 corde, pedali EBS, chitarra acustica, voce
- Felix Lehrmann - batteria, percussioni

Contro:
- Inger Ohlén-Reingold - voce (5)