Conspiracy in Mind

The last few weeks for me, musically, have been kind of "blah." I have listened to 6 or 7 new albums, and not many of them, if any, stood out. Unfortunately, after listening to the debut album by progessive power metallers Communic from Norway, the lackluster trend continues. Instead of greatness, I was merely introduced to a watered down version of Nevermore. For those who have raved this album's merits up and down could be taken aback by this rather harsh comment, but throughout this entire album, I was never given an inkling of inspiration nor did I have any interest in listening to a song more than once (except out of necessity in writing this review). I don't know, maybe I have just been spoiled by the likes of the latest from Dream Theater, Circus Maximus, Spock's Beard, and Nevermore themselves. There is nothing inherently bad about Communic, but when it comes to the perfection expected from an avid metal fan who has heard alot, just being "not bad" is never good enough to warrant a regular schedule of listens. Despite the fact that this album, from beginning to end never really did much more me, I have to give props for the band's size. Communic is only constructed of three members, and their output is just as strong and crisp as Nevermore who sport five members on their roster. This goes to show that this debut album is created by capable musicians who have the expertise to create a full album. Unfortunately, the song writing that the band undertakes is subpar to what I believe they are capable of creating. If Cummunic can somehow mold together a full album of better melodies, better progressive riffs, and stand out vocals, they will be a powerhouse band. Unfortunately on this current release, I was given several mid-tempo power-prog tunes along with more than my fair share of ballad interludes. None of this is bad necessarily, as a band like Kamelot could write an album chalk full of ballads and I would be grinning ear to ear, but this is not Communic's sound, infact, I don't think Communic really know what their sound is yet. The highlight of this album was the last number, their 11 minute tune Silence Surrounds. This song follows the same formula as the rest of the album, but the band seems to take a few steps forward by taking more chances with their sound. Vocalist Oddleif Stensland treats us with some kick ass shrieks and some sick riffing and tempo changes throughout the song giving us more progression than the other songs. After hearing this tune, it is my hope that these guys have another album on their contracts with Nuclear Blast, because they have their own sound emerging. These guys may not have burst onto the scene with a incredible debut, but they are more than capable of creating a mighty follow up.