Desolation Rose (2013) 
Tomas Bodin - keyboards
Hasse Fröberg - vocals, guitars
Felix Lehrmann - drums
Jonas Reingold - bass guitar
Roine Stolt - vocals, guitars
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1. "Tower One"
2. "Sleeping Bones"
3. "Desolation Road"
4. "White Tuxedos"
5. "The Resurrected Judas"
6. "Silent Masses"
7. "Last Carnivore"
8. "Dark Fascist Skies"
9. "Blood Of Eden"
10. "Silent Graveyards"
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We now move to the band's 12 studio album, Desolation Rose, which is also their most recent album. I am still trying to wrap my head around what I really think of this record. On the one hand, it is another relatively short album, by their standards, sitting at right around an hour, and is easy to get through because it flows so well. On the other hand, it lacks anything I would call truly awesome, and even the songs I think are the best - Tower One and The Resurrected Judas - both have some sections I think are less than great and make me think, "Dang, if this part were better, this could have been an all-time great TFK classic!" However, both songs are still pretty great for the most part, even if there is a part of me that thinks, "This could have been even better," about both.
To touch on Froberg vocals, which I've admittedly been overly critical of at times, I've always found it amazing that on some albums, I love most of his vocals, and then on others, I find them a bit mediocre, almost to the point of annoying. Sadly, on Desolation Rose, it seems to tilt more towards the latter. I remember the first time I heard Desolation Road, and I was so happy to get a piano-driven TFK song again, and then he started singing and I was like, "Oh, crap." It doesn't help that his voice sounds kind of hoarse more often than not on this record. Not sure if that was by design, or if he is simply losing some of his voice as he gets older. Silent Masses is another good example, as I love the verses, but merely kind of like the chorus, where Froberg really sounds hoarse.
Aside from all of that, this is a record that is quite good. I love the creepy vibe of Sleeping Bones, all of that organ stuff at the end of Desolation Road is killer, that middle section of Tower One is crazy good ("I might have turned away from wonder..."), I love the acoustic work in Resurrected Judas as well as that killer instrumental section in the middle of the song, White Tuxedos sees the band effectively visiting some dark moods and lyrics once again, and the bonus CD is chock full of killer instrumentals, many of which sound like they would fitted in perfectly on some of the early TFK records. There is a lot to love about this record. It's just missing that extra spark or two that would tip the scales to make it great, IMO, but hey, it's their 12th studio album, released in their 19th year, and I suspect it is far better that most bands' 12th album or whatever albums they released in their 19th year.
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EPILOGUEI have to say, this was a lot of fun, as it gave me the chance to run through the band's discography on my own again, and I was pleased to see that not only were some new fans gotten, but some who had gone a while without listening to them kind of jumped back on the TFK train and rediscovered some or all of the albums. That alone made this worth while.
Here's to more Flower Kings music in the future!!
Topic: The Flower Kings Discography: Desolation Rose (2013) (Read 18078 times)
