Above and Beyond

Above and Beyond was released in January 2009 by AOR Heaven. Its predecessor Hear-Say (2005, Frontiers) had been heavier than usual and divided opinion, and this record returns to the band's melodic bedrock. Jonas Reingold produced — the man behind Karmakanic and the bassist of The Flower Kings. The choice was no accident. Drummer Jaime Salazar had been a founding member of The Flower Kings since Roine Stolt's 1994 album The Flower King, and it was Salazar who brought Reingold to the audition for that band in February 1999. The link to progressive rock runs straight through the drum stool. "I Don't Want You" opens short and sharp, and the official video was made for it. "Just a Heartbeat Away" and "Let Me Be the One" follow; after "A Lot to Learn" and "I Believe" comes the title track. There is exactly one true ballad, "Surrender," and the massed chorus of "I Need Someone" closes all thirteen songs. Critics were unambiguous: they heard a return to classic form, and some went as far as calling it the best record of the band's career. The Japanese edition, on Nexus, added "Reaching Up," and Melodious Frontier and Seven Seas reissued it there in 2015.