Jethro Tull, “RökFlöte.”

An aesthetic of minimalism governs much of rock and roll. Sure, there’s the “November Rain” video and that weird thing where bands play their hits with symphony orchestras. But, at its core, rock and roll is about three chords, denim and leather. Given how much The Ramones were able to accomplish with just these basic elements, any musical add-ons run the risk of being seen as unnecessary, or worse, a little pretentious.

Jethro Tull has been loading up rock and roll with flute solos and renaissance faire imagery for more than 50 years, and after a long hiatus, Ian Anderson’s theatrical rock outfit delivers a booster shot of its patented recombinant prog-rock just 15 months after its first album in 18 years, The Zealot Gene.

RökFlöte is everything you’re imagining it to be, in other words basically Irish Step Dancing’s “Riverdance” with D&D lyrics.

“Feathered Consort” is one of the weirdest songs I’ve ever heard. Lilting flute and acoustic guitar battle with the pummeling drumming and overdriven guitar power chords that announce the song’s pomp and circumstance. Just a reminder that the dictionary defines a “consort” as “a wife, husband or companion, in particular the spouse of a reigning monarch.”

Over a wash of synthesizers Anderson sings, “Feathered consort, woven fronds maternal/ Silken, shining, light the day/ With her whispered promises of passion/ Fertile joining, fashioned clay/ Like distant Venus, so, seductive/ Smoothing her scent on boys and men/ To make them whole and leave them smiling/ Thinking of her now and then.”

I mean, who hasn’t spent a week there one night?

“Wolf Unchained” is my favorite song on the album as I imagine a bunch of guys with wolf T-shirts pre-gaming to this tune before a wild night on the town. Sinister, overdriven guitars deliver great chugging power chords and there’s some flute. Anderson imagines himself as a feral Cujo maiming a mailman, which I think we can all agree is awesome. “Dreaming of a wilder past/ A wilder bark, the howl, the growl/ Soft limb to tear and bone to grind/ The postman corpse to disembowel,” he sings.

“Howl”/”Growl”/”Disembowel” is top notch wordplay, gang.

If you really want your friends to take your hosting skills and dungeon-mastering seriously, try queueing up “Hammer on Hammer” before the party grabs their dice and embarks on the quest. Trilling flute evokes the thrill of adventure. “Was there a time when I was Jupiter/ Ringed like Saturn with sacred belt?/ Anvil sweating under blows/ Hammer on hammer, cold steel to smelt,” Anderson sings. That’s pretty weird, but the song’s penultimate verse — which I just figured out is about Vladimir Putin — is living rent-free in the back of my head: “Vlad, the bad, seethes and schemes/ An empire past he must renew/ Tough man in waiting, stares at me/ At White Nights, 1992.”

Is that a Baryshnikov reference? Doesn’t matter, great art isn’t meant to be entirely comprehensible.

If you teach flute and want to show your students flute can be cool, play them Beastie Boys’ “Flute Loop.” If you like D&D mythology and taking your dates to Medieval Times, pick up a copy of RökFlöte to play in your steel chariot at Inspiration Point later.

Follow writer David Gill at Twitter.com/saxum_paternus.