FLOW

I bought this album about a decade ago thanks to a review in Aardschok, a dutch metal magazine. If I remember well this was album of the month at the time so I thought: that can't be bad ! After listening a couple of times I can't say it was disappointing. It's an album full of melodic compact metal songs, not particularly loud but still metal. Vocalist is Khan who joined Kamelot later on as most metal fans will know. As with Kamelot he was also with Conception an important part of the sound of the band. Another striking thing of this album is the overall performance where the songs are concerned. 10 very good songs, you can't ask for anything more. Are they all in the same style ? No, because Hold on f.i. is a splendid ballad and also in the other songs there is enough variation to remain interested all through the album. The only thing that's missing is an epic, some longer song with great instrumental passages. That would make it more of a progressive album by the way because this is almost plain metal.

But like I said, good enough for I think a lot of metal fans to buy it. 4 stars (3.75).

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Posted Friday, October 26, 2007 | Review this album | Report (Review #146967)

"Flow" is the 4th full-length studio album by Norwegian power/progressive metal act Conception. The album was released through Noise Records in April 1997. It´s the successor to "In Your Multitude" from 1995. Like the case was on the predecessor, "Flow" features session musician Trond Nagell-dahl on keyboards. "Flow" would be the last release in Conception´s original run as they disbanded in 1998. Some members went on to form Ark, while lead vocalist Roy Khan joined Kamelot.

"Flow" is a slightly less progressive and more simple release than the direct predecessors, but the songwriting is still decent and at times of a good quality. Conception are a well playing band and lead vocalist Roy Khan is a high class singer with a strong voice and a commanding delivery. Stylistically the music is somewhat reminiscent of the late 90s/early 00s Queensrÿche releases (you know...the albums that people never talk about when discussing the otherwise brillant band). It´s mid-tempo polished heavy/power metal featuring relatively simple and rather dull riffs and rhythms, and only occasionally memorable vocal parts. It´s not bad quality music, but it´s something that´s almost worse...it´s music which leaves me indifferent.

"Flow" features a well sounding although maybe a bit too sterile and clean production job. Everything sounds professional, polished, and clear, but a little more grit and heaviness to the production, could maybe have provided some of the unremarkable compositions with a push in the right direction. That wasn´t to be though, and "Flow" therefore ends up a pretty unremarkable release in the discography of Conception. Still a 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong, there are after all a lot of quality elements featured on the album.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

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Posted Saturday, November 10, 2007 | Review this album | Report (Review #149846)

Conception introduced some new aspects such as more mechanical rhythms, lots of synths and a slightly industrial feel and vocals. While they managed to do so with grace, it's an album that doesn't measure up to the preceding ones.

The album starts ok with a couple of nice tunes such as Gethsemane, Angel and Reach Out. The sound is more polished, taking away some of the edge from this band. A Virtual Lovestory and Tell Me When I'm Gone grow old pretty quickly. There's even some alternative rock influence on Flow, which start almost like the Cure's Inbetween Days.

Halfway in, the album sinks in under its lack of ideas and daring. Cry and Hold On are ballads loaded with cliché sentimentalism. The two closing tracks Cardinal Sin and Would it Be the Same are also too tame and too derivative of Black Sabbath's period with Toni Martin (especially Cross Purposes). Conception never matches the power of Sabbath to make these songs really work.

With a limited number of decent tunes that work for an occasional listen, the album hardly registers above average. It might still be enjoyable for fans of the band but to anyone else I can only recommend to hunt after the debut album.

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Posted Tuesday, February 2, 2010 | Review this album | Report (Review #263873)

The closing of a chapter for CONCEPTION ,the end of an era,the final representation!Well,this fourth album FLOW was one of the most delightful and pleasant prove that intelligent music can permanently change itself , without any will to step again on solid ground!Why/Because the precedent CO ... (read more)

Report this review (#258119) | Posted by Ovidiu | Sunday, December 27, 2009 | Review Permanlink

So...Here we have an album that is totally different from the band's others... The keys are highly presented, the guitars are less metallic and the hole album's atmosphere is similar to the PINK FLOYD sound especially for the guitars. The best label, in my opinion, for this album would be: A mo ... (read more)

Report this review (#200494) | Posted by FatalV | Saturday, January 24, 2009 | Review Permanlink

If there's a band with the ability to capture the essence of many influences such as; progressive rock, heavy metal and even, flamenco music among others and to give a rich, amusing and authentic sound as final result, that band would have to be Conception. However, on this time they chose to work w ... (read more)

Report this review (#173973) | Posted by Epsilon | Sunday, June 15, 2008 | Review Permanlink

The last album of Conception (to the date) is a good mix of rock, metal & innovation from one of most authentic bands from the last years in the progressive music scene. This album has a unique style, with a lot of creativity and sophistication during all record. In my opinion all songs are we ... (read more)

Report this review (#93983) | Posted by | Tuesday, October 10, 2006 | Review Permanlink

Damn! this is a real good job. but something don´t make me think that FLOW is the greatest album of Conception. Roy Khan is one of the best vocals around the world, without a doubt(i think he made a better job in Conception than Kamelot). The songs are very interesting, with a great job in gui ... (read more)

Report this review (#24798) | Posted by | Tuesday, June 8, 2004 | Review Permanlink

After the great release of In Your Multitude, there were high expectations regarding the next disk from Conception. They released Flow, somewhat a departure from the things they had done before. Khan's vocals being even better, his English more pronounced and listenable. Still, if you listen t ... (read more)

Report this review (#24797) | Posted by | Monday, May 24, 2004 | Review Permanlink

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