The Flower Kings, Chapter 10: The Sum Of No Evil

10) The Sum of No Evil (2007)

It's like coming home, coming home again...

Confession time! When this album came out, I didn't like it very much. When I went to see the band on their subsequent tour, it was a very dissappointing experience. In fact, I retroactively started to like Adam & Eve and Paradox Hotel less and less and felt the band was on a downward curve. After all these disappointments, I was done with The Flower Kings for a while. And I wasn't the only one: it turns out The Flower Kings were done with The Flower Kings for a while – but more on that later. The Sum of No Evil was, relatively sepaking, a commercially succesful album. It got some extravagantly glowing reviews but some real stinkers as well. It remains one of TFK's more controversial releases.

The Flower Kings: The Road Back Home

The Road Back Home (2007)

After Paradox Hotel, Roine felt the time was right to release a new compilation album. There already was one, of course, but the intent was quite different this time around. This would be a compilation consisting almost exclusively of short, accessible, snappy, “normal” songs. The songs you could play at work, to your girlfriend, or to your family, without confusing the heck out of everybody. The album was not so much for attracting new fans as it was for helping existing fans introduce this band to their normal friends without making them look too crazy...

The Flower Kings: Instant Delivery

Instant Delivery (2007)

Of course, we need to edit that out for the video… It's gonna go “Roine, you're <<beep>> great.” And I'll say “You're <<beep>> great too!”

I became a Flower Kings fan around 2005, and the first opportunity I got to see them live was on the 2006 Paradox Hotel tour. Turns out I had hit the jackpot. The show at the 013 in Tilburg was the very last of the European leg of the tour. It was a fantastic show full of great moments, I was there with my best friend and we made it home safe. But the best part: the show was due to be recorded and filmed for a DVD release.

The Flower Kings, Chapter 9: Paradox Hotel

9) Paradox Hotel (2006)

The world is grooving to a brand new beat, the ground is swaying below our feet...

The fallout of Adam & Eve brought turmoil for The Flower Kings. First Zoltán Csörsz, then Daniel Gildenlöw said goodbye to the band in somewhat less-than-perfectly-cordial circumstances.