Conception

Perhaps best remembered for its musicians' later exploits with various bands, Norwegian power metal act Conception issued four very competent but not all that successful albums during its 1990s run. After starting out with 1991's Norway-only independently released The Last Sunset, vocalist Roy S. Khan, guitarist Tore Østby, bassist Ingar Amlien, and drummer Arve Heimdal added keyboard player Hans Christian Gjestvang for their sophomore effort of two years later, Parallel Minds. This was released (along with their reissued debut) by Noise Records and, surprisingly, climbed to number 23 on the Japanese charts, where melodic, progressive rock-tinged heavy metal happened to be in vogue during the '90s. Album number three, entitled In Your Multitude, followed in 1995 but the band was starting to feel the stress of both the media and public's love/hate response (love in Japan and select European nations, hate pretty much everywhere else), and decided to break up shortly after issuing a final bow called Flow (featuring keyboard player Trond Nagell-Dahl) in 1997. Not quite ready to retire, though, Khan quickly hooked up with American progressive metal powerhouse Kamelot, Østby went on to attain true guitar hero status with Ark, and the rhythm section changed direction via black metal band Crest of Darkness.