Customer Reviews

Parallel Minds

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Before the mighty Kamelot, there was Conception. Khan played with this amazing band in the 90's and they recorded four albums together. In Your Multitude is the best prog-metal Conception CD. However, in my opinion, Parallel Minds is their best pure metal CD. Two of their best songs are on here, "Roll The Fire" and the title track. The guitarist, Tore Ostby is playing on a level that very few guitarists ever reach. His blistering leads, icy-blue tone (reminiscent of Kirk Hammett's lead tone on Ride The Lightning) and incredible riffs combined with Khan's excellent singing make this a very memorable CD. The band is in absolute top form here. They have gone beyond the top of the mountain and into the stratosphere.

I think the entire Conception catalog is great, but this is easily my favorite Conception album. I like prog metal a lot, but I lean a lot more toward the "metal" side than the "prog" side. Among Conception's albums, I think this is clearly the hardest and closest to power metal.

But that most definitely does not mean that it's dull or formulaic. The band did a terrific job of keeping the elements that make Conception so groundbreaking - they just metallized it a bit more than other albums. If you're a pure metal fan that's interested in checking out Conception as an example of how good prog metal can be at its best, I would think this would be your best bet.

I didn't discover Conception until recently, and it was quite a discovery. The Last Sunset, Conception's impressive debut, featured many typical characteristics of a band's first record. A bit of naiveté, an imbalance between ambition and songwriting, and so on, but nonetheless, it made a good impression. Parallel Minds, Conception's second release, shows the band's budding maturity that would come to full bloom on the subsequent In Your Multitude and especially Flow.

Parallel Minds' rhythms are fairly straightforward, and song diversity is a slight problem, but it's still a great metal album. It has a solid punch of insatiable riffing, fiery tempos, and impassioned vocals (Roy Khan is one of the best voices in metal, in my opinion). The progressive tendencies demonstrated in the debut are more interesting this time around, especially in the 9-minute piece "Soliloquy," which offers a ferocious mix of ardent guitars, piano, and a mix of loud and quiet passages. (But they are NOT a progressive metal band!) Other than the largely acoustic ballad "Silent Crying," most of the tracks are carnivorous metal cuts. Check out the menacing riffs of "Wolf's Lair," the chugging viciousness of "Roll the Fire," or the crushing title track. You'll see what I mean.

If you enjoy Conception, I recommend hunting down their debut, The Last Sunset. I believe it's out of print, but it's worth owning for a complete understanding of this great band.

OK I admit that I bought this mainly just to check out the early career of Kamelot singer Roy Khan. And in a way I'm not sorry that I did for this is a serviceable enough slice of heavy semi prog. The band members are all suitably young and earnest sounding and the more youthful tones and high notes of Khan circa 1993 are interesting enough. The album isn't overlong, just ten tracks - though why are the lyrics to the songs in the booklet in seemingly random order? Either a quirk of the prog or a quirk of the Norwegian coming out in these chaps!

To my mind the guitars of Tore Ostby really stand out, not in terms of drowning other aspects of the band in the mix, but his use of biting tones and often short, sharp slashing attacks such as on My Decision really caught my ear.

Elsewhere this is put together in terms of cover art, production, mix and overall feel exactly the way you'd expect a slightly out of synch hard rock band from Norway would sound in 1993 if they wanted to look like hard rockers but their fathers LP collection was replete with a thick wad of 70's prog rock albums. This is the sort of album that catches your attention but doesn't quite take you on a real journey once it has your ears. Undeniably a thoughtful band and you can see why it helped to launch two careers (Tore Ostby going on to Ark). In his guide to 90's metal Martin Popoff granted this a score of 9/10, citing how "Led Zeppelin, Diamond Head, fussy Whitesnake, Dream Theatre..." all comes to mind, calling the writing "excellent thought provoking songs of a regal nature".

Due to it's somewhat obtuse listening qualities I rarely throw this on, but I sincerely enjoy it when I do.

**** - FOUR STARS
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This is an excellent Metal release. Very powerful, and very melodic. A must purchace for any Metal fan. I hear Iron Maiden influences throughout, and some Fates Warning / Queensryche / Angel Dust as well. The vocals are what makes this different, and overall, a unique experience. He sounds smooth, like F. Mercury {Queen}, but with a more Metal edge, very ineteresting indeed....

I love the melodic guitars. I've been a Maiden fan since the early 80's, and these guys make a great Smith / Murray duo attack. Some of the coolest solos I've heard in years....

I'm also convinced that Conception are not just another 80's clone band either, they've got their own style, and even though it's got an 80's feel, it's still fresh...

If you like old-school Metal, and enjoy excellent musicianship, Conception's "Parallel Minds" is the purchace you've been looking for. I only wish I would have bought this ten years ago..

Now that I've listened to all Conception albums I can properly say that this "Parallel Minds" is their masterpiece. "The Last Sunset" is a good album, too. But, I liked this better. Conception has no bad albums and is just a matter of preferences. With "parallel minds" reached their peak of creativity, a masterpiece from beginning to end. They can be considered the pioneers of the progressive metal wave at the end of the 80s and beginning of the 90s. Endless creativity and
perfect percision and execution are the major ingredients in this album, mixed in such unique perfection taking you in a metal journey, where the maximum pleasure is guaranteed to all you metal lovers. Fast songs, mid tempo, ballads, intrincate rhythms and accurate changes of rhythms are combined here, along with the most melodic solos and perfect choruses, filled with catchy rhythms, without sounding cheesy. The album has no fillers, and each one has something special. What I really liked about
"Parallel minds" is that is not a battle of virtuosism between the musicians with never-ending solos what would result in long and boring songs. There's nothing out of place, and the album doesn't sound repetitive at all. They go directly to the point.

The most important thing of Conception, is not the how fast or how long, it's simply the "how". They take a little of each genre, power metal, heavy metal, progressive metal, sounding very heavy and intense sometimes, or classical other times, but never resigning quality, technique nor beauty.

Conception is the kind of band that you have to listen to have an idea what I'm talking about. Just listen to realize. Too bad they split up!

European power/progressive metal outfit Conception only released four albums before the broke up in 1997. It's unfortunate that this band is no longer together because they were very good. Parallel Minds is their second release. Conception's style on Parallel Minds is a good mix of progressive metal with some power metal tendencies. Take special note of vocalist Roy Khan. He's one of the best singers in all of metal.

1. "Water Confines" - Excellent riffs from guitarist Tore Ostby greet the listener as this medium paced rocker begins. Vocalist Roy S. Khan soon comes in with his incredible vocals. Sounding a bit like Queensryche's Geoff Tate, Khan has range, power and emotion. Khan and Ostby make up one of the best vocalist/guitarist duos that have graced metal over the last ten years.
2. "Roll the Fire" - This song is a bit slower than the opener but just as heavy. I've heard people say that Conception is one of the better, heavier Dream Theater clones. They are haevy and they're very good but they aren't Dream Theater clones. In fact, I don't think Conception sounds like Dream Theater at all. While Conception does have some similarities to other Dream
Theater influenced bands like Vanden Plas, I have yet to hear a Conception song that reminds me of Dream Theater.
3. "And I Close My Eyes" - Similar to "Roll the Fire", track three is a good rocker that contains some more excellent guitar work by Ostby.
4. "Silent Crying" - This is beautiful ballad with some really cool Spanish guitar-type playing by virtuoso Ostby. This tune is very moving and emotional.
5. "Parallel Minds" - The title track is aggressive and contains some really speedy moments (for Conception) and a soaring chorus. The problem I have with this song is the lack of a strong finish as the chorus just kind of wimps out at the end. Still, this is a good song.
6. "Silver Shine" - The guitar work in this song is fabulous; they are strong and clear. The vocals are sung in a lower range in the verses but soar in the chorus. This song showcases Khan's range as a vocalist. The song has its good points, but overall it isn't that great, but I'll live.
7. "My Decision" - "My Decision" is a slow-paced but heavy song that has some creepy vocal harmonies and unusual melodies. It is the most unique song on the disc but that doesn't mean it's great. It's okay.
8. "The Promiser" - This song wanders too much for me to really get into (I tried) and the vocal melodies of this medium paced rocker never take off for me. My least favorite track on the CD.
9. "Wolf's Lair" - I didn't like this one too much. It kind of left me cold. It is a medium paced rocker (where have we heard that?) but it never truly grabs me.
10. "Soliloquy" - An epic that clocks in over eight minutes, this track boasts some interesting guitar work and some really melodic vocal lines. The song is divided up into three parts and all start off slowly and pick up as it goes along. Part 3 is especially good. Overall, this is a pretty strong song.

Parallel Minds is another good album from Conception. I like their final release (Flow) best but this CD is still a good, even with its drawbacks. I don't really know who to compare Conception to. Dream Theater doesn't fit. Maybe they're a little like Vanden Plas or Superior. Either way, Conception plays a hybrid of power metal and progressive metal. If you like slower, crunchier power/prog, you'll like Conception (I hope). A lot of people wish Khan and Ostby were still together. They'd probably be making good music if they were, but I wouldn't trade Khan's material with his new band, Kamelot, for the world.

This is Conception's second album, the first that I heard by them. I was instantly hooked, the music is superb, the playing is superb, and especially the vocals are perfect. From never having heard this band, to realizing that this band's vocalist, Roy S. Khan, was one of the best rock vocalists I had ever heard took only a few minutes.

Being the second album by a young band the music is incredible mature, the playing is solid through and through, almost comparable to the likes of Dream Theater or Queensryche.
Maybe these young men lack a bit of the musicianship found in Dream Theater, but there's nothing lacking in their genious.

From beautiful balads, to hard hitting metal to epic Soliloquy, they cover a lot of musical territory in a refreshing and competent manner.

All in all I rank this band along the likes of Fates Warning, Queensryche and Dream Theater.
The vocalist perhaps even outdoing Geoff Tate in his prime... If you listen to prog rock/metal, buy this one... and come back add your review.

This is my favorite album by Conception with Flow as a close second. Both of those albums represent Conception's perfection of a stage in their evolution. With Last Sunset, they were essentially a power metal band much in the vein of Helloween, With Parallel Minds, they perfected that sound by adding a Pink Floyd-esque progressive element to it and dialing up the songwriting with scathingly clever lyrics that un-apologetically slam modern societal greed and lust for convenience. The message is subtle enough that it doesn't sound preachy, but it is also prominent enough to leave a lasting impression. Torre Ostby is a brilliant songwriter and worthy of being cast in the same league as Stratovarius's Timmo Tolki and his partnership with Roy Khan is a force to be reckoned with.

After this album, Conception would take a new direction with "In Your Multitude" and "Flow" once again with "In Your Multitude" being an experiment and "Flow" being it's perfection. There is no such thing as a bad Conception Album and all are worth owning; even "Last Sunset" is an astonishingly good debut effort and is actually better than all Kamelot albums up until "Fourth Legacy" which it is on par with. Since I know many Kamelot fans will trace Khan's legacy and discover Conception as I have, this is the album I recommend you start with, this is the band's "Epica" if you will. The songs are great, the musicianship is top notch, and Khan's vocals are amazing as always. It's quite simply a masterpiece of music that everyone should own.