80. The Flower Kings - "By Royal Decree"

The Flower Kings are very much a cult concern. They are the Prog bands’ Prog Band and are adored by a small but dedicated contingent of beard-stroking, real ale-drinking gentlemen. This is sort of The Flower Kings and sort of a Roine Stolt solo project as in 2018 he decided he was done being in a group and disbanded the band much to the displeasure of keyboardist Tomas Bodin. Long-term members Hasse Fröbergand and Michael Stolt are now back in the band but it isn’t clear whether they are there as full contributors or mere session musicians. Anyway, enough of the office politics, “By Royal Decree” is meant to be the spiritual follow-up to their 1997 masterpiece “Stardust We Are” and it does succeed in having the same level of wide-eyed innocence that that album had. It does not feel processed or predetermined, like other examples of modern prog. Instead, it has a warm feeling of spontaneous creation, like the music just comes into being when you press play. It feels light and enticing and beautifully edifying. Just like prog should be.