IN YOUR MULTITUDE

It has been a long time since my last listen of a progressive metal album with a true extreme metal sound of the 80's. Prog metal band Superior came close, at least with their Behind album. But Conception here really succeeded: actually, this progressive metal album has an OUTSTANDING power metal sound very similar to the Whitesnake or the Impellitteri of the 80's. The album compositions are however not as refined as progressive metal bands like Symphony X, but the quality of the thundering bass- rhythmic electric guitar sound is absolutely irreproachable. The guitarist plays for the Ark band, and his sound here is much more straightforward and extreme. Ark is also more jazzy and varied. Let's say the style of In your multitude is a bit like the prog metal band Threshold. The lead & backing vocals are absolutely visceral and VERY well suited for a straightforward prog metal album like In Your Multitude: Queensryche's Geoff Tate and Threshold's Damian Wilson are good comparisons.

"Solar Serpent" has THE absolutely PERFECT rhythmic combination of bass and electric guitar: the power, the razor and the bottom of this VERY elastic part of the music is just jaw-dropping: only EXTREME bands like Headpins, Judas Priest of the 80's and Accept have a comparable sound in terms of sheer power! JUST PLAY IT .... LOUD! The miscellaneous pleasant modern floating keyboards are rather atmospheric and sometimes excellent acoustic guitars, fast electric guitar solos and fast bass drums bring some variety

"In Your Multitude" might be the proggiest album this Norwegian band ever did. Khan would later go on to sing for KAMELOT, while Tore Ostby would play axe for ARK. Two very talented guys although the bass and drumming really impress me on this release as well. Love the back cover art on this one. I don't know what it is but it is so moving and beautiful. Some guest keyboards from Trond Nagell-Dahl who also played on tour with them.

"Under A Mourning Star" has such a cool intro as sounds come and go. Here we go ! Vocals a minute in as it settles some but not for long. Ripping guitar 3 1/2 minutes in with organ runs to follow. "Missionary Man" is one of my top three tracks.The riffs are killer on this one.This is just a heavy song with lots of crunch. Great vocals too. A blistering guitar attack 3 minutes in. "Retrospect" opens with an all out assault before it settles and vocals come in. It does get more powerful though with some great guitar fire 2 1/2 minutes in. "Guilt" is another top three tune. It features some guest guitar from producer Tommy Newton. This one is heavy with menacing vocals. Killer sound with the guitar coming in after 2 minutes. "Sanctuary" features acoustic guitar and reserved vocals throughout.

"A Million Gods" is another top three track for me. Check out the drumming and bass after a minute ! Great sound 4 1/2 minutes in and the guitar that follows is incredible as bass and drums continue to impress. A shred-fest late. "Some Wounds" opens with deep bass with outbursts of fury until it's a steady blast. The guitar before 3 1/2 minutes lights it up. "Carnal Comprehension" opens with sounds that build including a good rythmn. The guitar 3 minutes in is outstanding. "Solar Serpent" has a good beat as rough vocals come in. It kicks in around a minute. Contrasts continue. I like the tasteful guitar with synths before 2 minutes. "In Your Multitude" has this laid back intro before a full sound arrives after a minute. Powerful vocals and sound right here. A calm 3 minutes in and check out the guitar solo that goes on and on after 4 minutes.

My version has a bonus track called "Gravity" which is a killer track. A solid 4 star Prog-Metal album.

Conception - this norwegian band who were at their peak with this release from 1995 named In your multitude. They released just another album two years after this one and then disbanded. The two of the founding members of Conception and the main song writers Roy Khan gone to Kamelot, the guitarist Tore Ostby gone to Ark and played aswell on the solo album of DC Cooper, the Royal Hunt vocalist then. About this album In your multitude, I saw that many listners from here who reviewed and voted this album said is one of the masterpieces of prog metal, to be honest I don't see how this can be considered an essential album , realy. I mean , to me is a good album dominated by excellent voice of Roy Khan, the musicianship is ok, in places even great , but to me is not a masterpiece for sure, I know at least a dozen better bands from that year - 1995 who sounds playes and has better pieces. To me this album is a cross between polished power metal with some progressive metal leanigs, is not so complex and not so over the top as many considered to be. The riffs, the solos of Tore Ostby are good and well constructed but nothing grounbreaking, the bass is ok, the drums aswell, only the voice of Mr Khan is brilliant here, excellent vocalist. If it weren't Khan voice here, then for sure would be a usual album to my taste for sure. Anyway a pleasent album all the way with nice shifting moods from mid tempo pieces, in fact all have mid tempo, to mellower one whre Khan voice shines like Sanctuary, but aswell on the rest is brilliant. Now the m,ost progressive metal pieces from here is to meA million gods , a track whre bass and drums are in front most of the time but aswell the rest of the musicians did a great job. In the end a worthy album for sure, but nothing over the top for me, 3.5 rounded to 4, just because Khan voice is outstanding, one of the most distictive voice in prog metal for sure. A good towards great but nothing close to a masterpiece. Great cover art by the way.

My appreciation for Conception diminished with their gradual slide into more straightforward power-metal domains. After a surprising debut and disappointing second, the band again opted for classic verse-chorus/guitarsolo metal on their third album.

The choruses are obviously meant to engage every single fan into a big sing-along. I always find those anthemic metal choruses to be something of a tour the force really. You should give it a try: go banging your head, heave your right hand up in the horn sign and hold 3 beers in your left while you queue for a hotdog at the hamburger-stall. Believe me, that takes years of practice!

Right, you get the image, catchy pounding metal at hand. And Conception does the trick very skilfully, with generally strong song material. There's little variation. Just like on the previous album the greatest variance is obtained by altering the tempo between fast and mid-paced tunes. The song quality is much higher then on the previous album though. Only Carnal Comprehension and Solar Serpent legs a bit behind the other songs, or maybe it is just that I've kind of had my fill after half an hour of metal by the numbers.

For a band with such musical competence, I sure miss some audacity in the compositions, the melodies and musicianship are good but unimaginative, predictable and a bit old-school from a 2010 perspective, Conception played it too safe. In Your Multitude is a good album but will hardly impress anyone outside the fan base.

Norwegian metal from the 1990s? Oh, OK, so this is going to be some second-wave black metal to burn churches to, huh?

Well, no, not quite - Conception were instead a progressive metal outfit who, based on this album, seem to have a power metal-tinged sound which tends towards the catchier, more anthemic, and occasionally a bit cheesier end of the subgenre. It's certainly a technically competent example of this style and I imagine that anyone with a healthy appreciation for, say, Dream Theater would get a lot out of this, but if, like me, you find this style of progressive metal to be highly hit and miss then you might find this one leaves you cold unless you are in just the right mood for it.

"In Your Multitude" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Norwegian power/progressive metal act Conception. The album was released through Noise Records in May 1995. It´s the successor to "Parallel Minds" from 1993 and features one lineup change as keyboard player Hans Christian Gjestvang´s has left. He has not been replaced here, so the keyboards are handled by session musician Trond Nagell-dahl.

Stylistically the material on "In Your Multitude" feel like the natural continuation of the power/progressive metal sound of "Parallel Minds (1993)". The sound is maybe slightly more progressive in nature than the music style on the predecessor, but it´s details which set the two albums apart. And that counts for both musical style and the high quality of the material featured on the two albums. Those expecting an explosion of progressive features like complex song structures, unconventional time signatures, or longer instrumental sections, should look somewhere else, as Conception may use those elements on occasion (like on the longer instrumental section on "A Million Gods"), but they are more in the power metal camp than in the progressive metal ditto. If I should make a comparison to a contemporary act which most people can relate to, I´d mention Queensrÿche, although the influence is only heard occasionally.

The high level musicianship is one of the greatest assets of "In Your Multitude", but anyone familiar with the preceding releases won´t be surprised by that. The instrumentalists are very well playing, and especially guitarist Tore Otsby delivers some strong riffs, very well played guitar solos, and loads of intriguing ideas to the musical landscape of the album. His playing is technical but still tasteful and restrained when the songs call for it. The rhythm section are skilled too and deliver the right heavy pounding performance to back up the riffs and the many great vocal melodies performed by lead vocalist Roy Khan. The latter mentioned is a singer extraordinaire with a strong voice and a powerful and varied delivery. The keyboards are mostly used for atmosphere, but there are moments on the album when they have a more prominent role.

"In Your Multitude" features a well sounding production job, which suits the music perfectly. There is power here and there is clarity enough to hear every detail being played/sung. So upon conclusion "In Your Multitude" is just the right step forward for Conception and it´s a high quality release deserving a 4 star (80%) rating.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)