CONSPIRACY IN MIND

"Conspiracy in Mind" is the debut full-length studio album by Norwegian power metal act Communic. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in 2005. Guitarist/vocalist Oddleif Stensland and drummer Tor Atle Gabrielsen-Andersen left their former band Scariot after the "Strange to Numbers (2003)" album to form Communic and they drafted bassist Erik Mortensen to complete the lineup. Mortensen had previously played with Stensland in Ingermanland. Mortensen is also a member of Dimenzion: Psychosphere.

The music style on the album is power metal with some thrash metal and some progressive metal leanings. The music is generally very heavy yet melodic. Communic are often compared to Nevermore and while there are many differences between the two bands, there certainly is some merit to that comparison. The fact that Oddleif Stensland´s voice at times sound very similar to the voice of Warrel Dane is one of the most obvious similarities. The 7 tracks on the album are generally very long, ranging from 6 to almost 11 minutes. Some of the tracks have what I would call slightly progressive leanings but the overall style is still heavy power metal.

The musicianship is excellent throughout and the tracks are generally well written and contain enough sections and twists to be entertaining for most of the duration of the album. The tracks are a bit too formulaic in the end though and I could do without hearing the vers/chorus part three times in each track, which also means that most of the tracks overstay their welcome by a couple of minutes. It isn´t a major issue but enough to keep the album from being really excellent. I know playing the vers/chorus parts three times is the regular way to do it, but here it just becomes slightly too predictable.

"Conspiracy in Mind" features a sound production courtesy of Danish producer Jacob Hansen. It´s powerful and clear, and overall decent sounding, but it´s not one of Hansen´s better productions. Upon conclusion "Conspiracy in Mind" is a fairly good quality debut album by Communic. A little rough around the edges but still a pretty powerful power metal release and a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is deserved.