Flaming Row - 2025 - Keeper Of The Scriptures [Hüterin Der Schriften]

(79:32 x 2; Flaming Row)

There is no doubt that German Progressive Metal act Flaming Row do not believe in doing anything by halves but instead go full out and can be massively over the top, and that is what has happened with this, their latest album. Although I enjoyed 2019’s ‘The Pure Shine’, I said that using as its concept the story of Stephen King’s ‘The Dark Tower’ was wrong, and they could not possibly do it justice as the story was far too large to condense into an album. I have no idea if that caused a rethink in their approach, but they decided that for their next release they were going to again undertake a concept based on a story, but this time asked a friend of the band to write one they could use. Christian Dolle happily obliged, and provided them with “Hüterin Der Schriften”, a fantasy story about heroines attempting to save humanity as they battle against The Mesh. If one gets the standard version then you get the album twice, once in English and once in German, and the Digipak contains both languages, with the English cover on the front (or back depending which way you open it) and the German on the back (or front). It is designed so that whichever way you open it the words and photos are the correct way up as you head towards the middle, then turn it over and do the same again. The booklet contains all the lyrics in English and German as well, so one can happily enjoy the complete experience. But, if you get the special edition, you also get the album as an instrumental, plus a CD of the audiobook (in German), but it is possible to download the English version. I did just that, which resulted in having more than 7½ hours of material to get through!

I have long been a fan of the band, and Melanie Mau (lead vocals), Martin Schnella (guitars, bass, lead & backing vocals), Niklas Kahl (drums) and Marek Arnold (keyboards, saxophone) have utilised many additional guests to bring this story to life. There are ten additional singers (including Glynn Morgan and Sally Kinnear) and 19 other musicians (including Jimmy Keegan, Eric Gillette, Arjen Lucassen and Joe Deninzon), and the result is something which in many ways feels like a logical expansion of Clive Nolan’s theatre productions, except here we only have songs telling the story with no additional speaking or narration, as that all comes through in the audio book.

They have taken everything they did right in the last album and brought it through into this one and have also corrected everything that was not as good as it might have been, and the result is a truly remarkable release in every way. The core of the band has been together for more than a decade, and also play together in other projects, and this togetherness is clear in the way the arrangements are incredibly tight and very layered. Anything which involved Marek Arnold will always be taken to a different level due to his skill on both saxophone and keyboards, while Martin Schnella always reminds me somewhat of Gary Chandler in that his guitar approach is always clearly identifiable in the way it is defined.

This is Progressive Metal which is also incredibly commercial and very easy to listen to, and there are huge elements of Crossover contained within, as well as Neo. Combined with great songs, powerful hooks and great performances, all topped with soaring vocals from both male and female this is an incredibly dynamic release which will surely be heralded by many as their best release to date. I have enjoyed all three of their other albums, but this is the band at a whole different level to what has gone before. I played this in sequence, and having enjoyed the English version happily enjoyed the German version, as while I didn’t understand the words I could follow the melodies, and these both felt very different to the instrumental version which came next, and then hearing the story after all this was the icing on the cake. 
 
It has taken six years for Flaming Row to release their fourth album, but it was worth every minute of that extended wait as this is simply essential. 

Kev Rowland, February 2026

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/flamingrow