Forty years as an active recording artist is something to be celebrated, indeed, and that landmark is achieved by Flower Kings vocalist & guitarist Hasse Fröberg, and marked by the release of the sixth studio album of his HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companions) project entitled Eternal Snapshots, which is a concept dealing with how we become who we are; is it predetermination? Destiny? To seek answers, the album follows two new lives, and such questions have fascinated me all my adult life (Fröberg and I are the same age).
It would be an easy sort of cop out to simply state that if you are, like me, a TFK fan (with the caveat on my part that recent reviews of mine of later albums have lamented an awful lot of unnecessary filler amongst some fine music), then you will automatically like this project, and it is true that the familiarity of the voice especially leans toward that statement, but I would emphasise that there is far more to HFMC, with members who have played with the likes of Glenn Hughes, Michael Schenker, Jeff Scott, and Joe Lynn Turner, so a broad spectrum. The only change from the 2021 album, We Are The Truth, is the bassist, Sampo Axelsson, who joins Kjell Haraldsson on keys, Anton Lindsjö on guitars, and Ola Strandberg on drums.
So, eleven pieces of music on an album you can pre-order at https://hfmc.bandcamp.com/album/eternal-snapshots prior to the release on D-Day 2024, and one track I can share with you prior to that release.
The album is bookmarked by two All I Wanted To Be pieces. Part One sets the lyrical tone immediately, asking whether the subject could have done things differently, with a life that has not turned out as it might amid the gloom of failure. I can relate to this, although my life circumstances are vastly different, with a wonderful family, good career, and general happiness, you do still ask yourself whether if a major decision in your life had gone another way, what would have become of you and the world around you (there being a theory in quantum physics that we are, in fact, living or will live these multiple realities)? It is quite a long bookmark introduction at over four minutes and opens with no small amount of bombast in true Swedish symphonic tradition before settling into a more funky piece, Haraldsson especially prominent on the Hammond and synths, and Fröberg is suitably reflective in a moving piece of music, bass and guitar combining to see us out in a thoughtful fashion.
Deserve to be Happy is a track very much of our time, with a relentless focus on mental health issues, especially during and after the Covid pandemic (which Sweden handled far differently to my country). Is manic depression just a “state of mind”. Do we deserve to be happy? Is there something holding us back, from which we can break free? My personal issues are, thankfully, limited to lifelong mild anxiety and concurrent panic attacks, but I do recognise that there can be a very thin line between something I manage successfully in my day-to-day life, and more serious depths to which the mind can plunge and the desire to live again in a different life, a driver behind many a suicide. It’s bright opening is reminiscent of Asia in their pomp, and this mood somewhat belies the subject matter. As the track develops, we get some very dramatic moments, but never a sense of despair in the music, some of the guitar notes especially nice, which lead into a classy solo as it moves towards the closing passage.
Wherever You May Go introduces us to a far brighter spark, one dealt a lucky hand, beautiful in and out, shining light wherever he goes. This is a delightful piece of music, from the faded guitar notes to the wondrously bright pastoral feel of the man learning what (a lovely) life is all about, full of some incredible acoustic and electric guitar interplay and very strong backing vocals behind and accompanying the lead, with a sunny mellotron also setting the mood nicely.
No Messiah is a highlight of the year to me, a wonderful piece of music which takes the sunny disposition of the lucky man, raised with a firm demand, born with an easy mind, a guy next door, but clearly special to his inner circle. The vocal harmonies at the start remind me of the best of Drama-era Yes, creating something emotional out of an ostensibly machinelike sound, and the whole piece at its heart is classic progressive meets electronica with passion, a homage to positivity featuring some gorgeous ghostly guitar notes and fine keyboard work before the main guitar solo kicks in, and Strandberg putting in a fine vocal performance in his own right. A song which has a guy next door transformed into a special musical suite.
Once in a Lifetime is the release ahead of the album, and you can listen to it embedded below. It returns to the darker human soul facing his destiny and trying to put the dark life behind him and making a once in a lifetime choice to get where he needs to be, stood as he is on a precipice on the springboard at the shore. The guitar work on this is catchy and intricate, some great drumming, quirky moments, a clever buildup of intensity and noise, and I really like the vocal harmonies in a track which I think was a wise choice to capture the essence of the album in advance of the full release.
Only For Me follows, a very delicate track with a great steel guitar, piano-led textures, where the subject continues his journey knowing where he must be, to live his life simply for himself. Very enjoyable.
The Yard is an instrumental written by Axelsson and quite short, but intense, in an eclectic mix of noises from the TFK playbook of instrumentals. The writer’s bass guitar leads the charge and is all over this in a track I enjoy, and wish was a couple of minutes longer.
Searching For The Dark is a song all of us can relate to now talking about dark times on the news, and a twisted world exemplified by foul agitators, but that we are slowly waking up to them and the reality around us. The deft use of the Fender Rhodes is a delight, the vocals suitably questing, reality just a dream and featuring some gorgeous, blues-infused guitar notes cleverly utilised sparingly until, that is, the imperious main solo, aching with feeling accompanied by some lovely voices. This track is a triumph and deserves to be a hit single.
A Sorrowful Mariner is an instrumental written by Haraldsson. Just over a minute of disturbed choral voices backing his Hammond, you feel the mental pain of the agitated man.
He is tortured in Blind Dog, pining to be a model citizen, but falling off the rails in a violent descent into denial and an unknown painful life. The dirty Hammond which kicks us off reminds me so much of Jon Lord, and, indeed, this piece can easily be seen as a homage to early classic-era Purple, wonderful blues rock lamenting the human condition exemplified by the guitar which cries out the pain heading into the unknown. Worth the price of the album on its own this one, a classic rock track to wrap up in a box and keep forever.
We close with the All I Wanted To Be second part, an end to life, “all of me”, and the prospect of the impending afterlife. The guitar solo is stunning, the vocals cry out the demise, but the prospect of what comes after being a different life dependent upon the conditions that will shape it.
This album is not a Fröberg solo release with guests, but the sound and execution of a true collective. The concept behind this album is intelligently realised, it all sounds rich and full (credit to Petrus Könningson, the engineer), and avoids the easy trap of simply sounding like something that Fröberg’s day job band would push out. It is a nice mix of the understandable influence of said parent band, but also infused with classic heavy and some gorgeous pastoral rock and comes highly recommended.