The Sum of No Evil :-The Limited Edition

'The Sum of No Evil' is a perfect example of a timeless progressive rock opus in the spirit of 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway' or 'Yessongs'. Flower Kings' main composer & producer Roine Stolt explains: "We wanted to make a real hardcore symphonic rock and prog album. We took away all the pop, the jazz and the experimental or ambient stuff and concentrated on the pure prog that we do best." An apt description of the almost 75 Minutes of playing time that cover the six expansive tracks presented here. "To make all this a real trip for the prog rock fan we have worked in a studio that specializes on '60s & '70s vintage recording equipment, plus we used lots of real vintage analogue keyboards, Hammond organ, Wurlitzer, Rhodes and grand pianos plus lots of Mini Moog and old tube amplifiers for the guitars."

"Any fan of early '70s prog up until the first U.K. album should love this album", The Flower Kings mastermind reckons of the effective depth of 'The Sum of No Evil'. "The trademarks are the melodies, the mix of intricate, busy prog-fusion and grand symphonic pieces. The album has some hints of 'Stardust We Are' and 'Retropolis' perhaps, but also has a lot in common with the two Transatlantic studio albums." The consistency with which The Flower Kings have translated their vision of atmospheric & multi-faceted rock music is unmistakeable. More than ever before, the musicians have relied on their self-imposed "purity law", concentrating entirely on the symphonic and classic prog rock ideas. "I suppose the way I write is the trademark", says Stolt. "I mean, you cannot get away from yourself, I cannot change that much. As usual I had way too much material. I also invited the rest of the band to contribute their songs, but this time they didn't come up with much, they just seemed all very happy working mainly on what I had written, as it was sort of just what we were aiming for, it had all the elements that take us, The Flower Kings, to the max."

Roine is referring to epic numbers such as the multi-layered "One More Time" or the accessible, atmospherically dense "Trading My Soul". At the centre of the album is the almost 25-Minute "Love is the Only Answer", an eventful journey through the history of this musical genre, with contemporary arrangements and topical themes with both Stolt and Hasse Fröberg contributing vocals. "As always, my lyrics try to be uplifting, but they also try to understand every angle of human behaviour and portray us as we are: earthbound, yet divine." On the other hand, there's the unusual "Flight 999 Brimstone Air", an instrumental track contributed by keyboardist Tomas Bodin. "It has quite a weird middle section, where our drummer Zoltan really shines in a sort of solo free-tempo thing, while bassist Jonas Reingold plays an ostinato in a mean atonal kind of Zappa / Crimson style and percussionist Hasse Bruniusson adds all his audio weirdness. Not easy to play, not easy to dance to but we wanna keep the audience on their toes, because that's the spirit of progressive rock."