PARALLEL MINDS

When the album was released, the Greek Metal Hammer awarded it 10 out of 10 points. A friend of mine bought it and, naturally, I borrowed it from him to give it a listen. The first five songs minus And I Close My Eyes (that was the first side of the original pressing) ended up in a tape, the rest didn't appeal to me much. Years went by and thankfully all of the albums of Conception were re-released and I got hold all of them. It was time, after all, to re-assess them. Now, I don't know if the aforementioned five songs (Water Confines, Roll the Fire, Silent Crying, Parallel Minds, Silver Shine) are better than the others or merely I have listened to them hundreds of times, but I still enjoy them to the full. My Decision and The Promiser were lost on me then, Wolf's Lair is OK, but I still don't get Soliloquy, it's rather average. Almost 30 years later I fully appreciated the spectacular range of Roy Khan's voice, the occasional tasty usage of odd-meter changes to breathe new interest into a song, the wonderful atmosphere that the keyboards provide (although they play nothing but pads), the technical playing of Tore Østby and the smart lyrics. The album sounds still fresh to my ears and has nothing to do with the cookie-cutter power metal albums they were coming out in droves. I don't know what happened in other countries, but Conception were on almost every metal fan's lips here in Greece. The future looked wonderful for the band, although the Greek author was exaggerating a bit.

Not an excellent addition to ANY prog rock music collection, but most fans of prog metal (or at least metal fans who prefer their metal a bit more adventurous) will find something interest to engage them for a long time.