CONCEPTION State Of Deception

Some releases are harder to review than others this is most certainly one of them. Why is that you might ask? Well, in this case we’re talking about a band that have given me very mixed emotions over the years. I was a huge fan of their first three albums before the curve suddenly pointed steeply downwards with Flow and then the band went into a state of hibernation that lasted for more than two decades. Mixed emotions is a keyword for me when listening to State Of Deception as well.  After a two minute intro the opening track ‘Of Raven And Pigs’ kicks off the album, and this song represents everything I don’t want to hear from Conception, frankly spoken.  ‘Waywardly Broken’ is a step in the right direction, especially the verse parts and the guitar leads. I am not equally convinced by the chorus sections. ´No Revind´ follows in the footsteps of the opening track, but is simply a much better  song that has a few of those early days elements incorporated that I’ve always loved about the band. ‘The Mansion´ is a beautiful power ballade with a beautiful vocal performance from Roy, supplemented by guest vocals from Elize Ryd of Amaranthe. This is in my opinion the absolute highlight of the album. The next track is entitled ‘By The Blues’ which is more a melodic hard rock kind of song, quite untypical for Conception but it actually works quite well. ‘Is There Anybody Out There’ takes another direction with it’s theatrical film score approach and the chorus gives me a certain Pink Floyd´ish feel. Another highlight. Next out is ‘She Dragon’ and this is probably the track on the album that gives me the most early day Conception feel and together with ´The Mansion´ and ´Is There Anybody Out There´, it enters my top 3 list for this album. ‘Feather Moves´, which is a remastered version of the one included on their 2018 Re:Conception single, is the closing track of the album. Another track that I like really well. One thing you can’t take away from Conception though is their musical talent, both as individual musicians and as a band. All in all I would say that State Of Deception is a good album, and way better than I feared it would be. It certainly has it ups and downs, som I’m not fully convinced, but the good stuff is really good and that’s why the score ended on a solid 7 points.

Discography

State Of Deception (2020)

Flow (1997)

In Your Multitude (1995)

Parallel Minds (1993)

The Last Sunset (1991)