As someone who has followed Karmakanic since before 2008's Who's The Boss In The Factory, I've gotta say that that album is probably my favorite of theirs. The opening epic is the quintessential Karmakanic sound, and the closing duo of "Eternally" tracks is really touching as well. Their first two albums are solid works, too, but I think WTBITF is where they really set themselves apart from being "just another TFK offshoot" and more of a Jonas Reingold-led outfit with some amazing players in their own right.
I think most Karmakanic fans would agree that IAPW is their weakest work out of the five studio albums, which is why I was excited when DOT came out in 2016 and being wowed by most of the material. I think I find myself going back to DOT and Boss more often than anything else in their catalog.
Of the other TFK off-shoots, I'd put The Tangent up top, especially since Roine left and the band became more of Andy's vehicle for his proggy output. I'm probably the biggest Tangent fan here on this board, or at least one of the biggest ones (as I've been directly supporting Andy and his ventures since 2009, where you may see my name among the fans who financially fund the making of his Tangent and solo albums), and every time Andy releases a new Tangent album, it's always a treat to hear how the band has evolved, especially lately now that there has been a consistent line-up for the last couple of albums! They've had their highs and lows, but overall, the Tangent is a fairly consistently good catalog for me, and a top 20 band in my book.
Then there's also Hasse Froberg & Musical Companion, with four albums in the last decade or so, and they've had some fairly great music so far! If you love Hasse's vocals and sound, this is definitely for you. I feel like he spun off into his own solo band because the Flower Kings kept going on hiatus, and Hasse had so much music to put out there, and so he did! I haven't listened to them in awhile, but I remember enjoying each album as they came out, and last I heard, he was working on a fifth album with his band, so I hope we see that come out sometime this year!
And of course, there was the solo career of Tomas Bodin, which is kind of hit-or-miss for me now, and while there are some epic moments (I AM being one of them), I have to be in a certain mood and mindset for his music, but I do enjoy his work for the most part. It's kind of sad that he hasn't really done anything in six years or so, and he's even had projects that have fallen to the wayside (like Crime Of The Century), but looking at his Soundcloud just now, it seems like he uploads every couple of months, so he's still writing and recording SOME music.
And on the subject of solo stuff, anyone else here love Wall Street Voodoo by Roine Stolt? Easily one of my favorite Roine Stolt-related albums, the vibe is completely different and I love his guitar work across the whole thing. Neal's contributions are also very fresh and vibrant. I kind of wish that Roine and Neal took a band out to tour on this album (with an encore of some Transatlantic material).
-Marc.