Conception
Parallel Minds

Considered the best album of the then very young Norwegian band's career, this second work of theirs moves away from the markedly power/thrash tracks of their first record (The Last Sunset), to embrace concepts even more oriented towards progressive metal.
The use of fast and impactful rhythms from their recent past decreases, these solutions begin to become sporadic in favor of melodic openings of fine craftsmanship, already hinted at in the debut album. The music is always very inspired, fresh, and almost all originating from the mind of the guitarist and band founder Tore Østby, who offers an excellent performance in terms of ideas and technical skills.

The album opens with "Water Confines," an up-tempo of great value that provides us with the coordinates of Parallel Minds. Already the second track brings us to one of the compositional and interpretative peaks of the album. "Roll The Fire" is one of the many mid-tempos of the album that exalts the work of Roy's voice. Here we are at the slow but very heavy "And I Close My Eyes," one of the best episodes of the album, the central tempo change is admirable with Roy skillfully handling the musical accents. Everything slows down and becomes splendid in front of one of the best ballads one can hear in the metal field. "Silent Crying" (which I would love to hear played with just guitar and piano) makes Roy's splendid voice ring clear in the stereo painting vibrant melodies accompanied by his colleagues in a piece composed and arranged really well; touching and delicate like a breath of wind, it ends leaving space for the title track. "Parallel Minds" is the quintessential Conception song in full power/thrash style not as fast as in the past, but equally incisive, with a chorus that immediately sticks in your head. "Silver Shine" is another test for Roy, who once again makes no mistakes, and finally, we hear his full vocal range used, it's incredible how he manages to maintain both melody in the lows and clarity on highs that few singers can reach with the same ease. We arrive at 3 other pearls of authentic beauty: "My Decision," "The Promiser," and "Wolf’s Lair." The first is rhythmic and metallic, with a riffing of rare beauty and a dark chorus: spine-tingling; the second, after a truly unique introduction, launches into decisive and powerful openings that nonetheless manage to keep melody in sight; the third, instead, is the heaviest of the album, and the drum work is spot on: the groove of this song is really crazy and makes you hope the track never ends.
The last track is almost a 9-minute suite divided into 3 moments. Melancholic, melodic, and almost dramatic in the initial singing, "Soliloquy" is the most progressive of the album and truly touches the listener’s heart in the first 2 and a half minutes with gentle guitar arpeggios, we then receive a heavy jolt in the second part and then, with the initial arpeggio, we return to moments of apparent calm before the last heavy acceleration.

From the first to the last song, we only note the lack of a characteristic that had considerably enriched the previous work, namely the insertions of classical guitar with Spanish accents. On the other hand, we have the keyboards present in all the songs, albeit only in the background, hinting at heavier use in future works.
The technique of the 5 is remarkable, but a special mention must go to every single solo by Tore: all should be placed in the "library of solos" of every good lover of this instrument.

Splendid album that I feel confident recommending as a blind purchase, just like all the albums of this band.