Visions

The first thing that struck me about these guys is seeing the name "Robert lowe" listed as the vocalist for Concept of God. Being a huge fan of his vocal style ever since I was turned onto Solitude Aeturnus by a friend I have come to find his vocal style one of the best examples of the traditional metal vocals I can think of.

yes, Concept of God is Lowe and ex Solitude Aeturns members and yes, there are some elements of Solitude Aeturnus found on this record, however there are some interesting differences as well. Gone are the depressive riffs and mournful sounding vocals of Lowe. In their place are groovy riffs and a bit of an upbeat vocal performance from Lowe which really helps bring the album alive.

For those of you who are fans of the old Solitude Aeturnus sound, it can still be found on this album as well. Tracks "Hearing Voices, Fires of Life, and Unspoken" still have the same traditional doom riffs that are to be expected from anything Robert Lowe lends his creative voice to.

Sticking with their influences, the band also does a truly incredible cover of Rainbow's track "Man on the Silver Mountain" with lead guitar to replace the keyboards on the original version which adds Concept of God's own unique stamp on a metal classic.

This album may not be the best thing Robert Lowe has put his name to, but it surely has a lot of good qualities about it. Anyone who enjoys groove metal as well as the traditional doom style should surely give this album their full attention.

Concept of God is a side-project consisting of musicians from Solitude Aeturnus barring the drummer, who is an EX-Solitude Aeturnus member. Lolzzz. The music - as expected - is traditionally arranged doom metal. In fact, some of these songs could have been decent Candlemass/Solitude Aeturnus songs. I don't see the purpose of such a project. I thought maybe this album is supposed to be ideologically or spiritually fulfilling for some of the band members, but the lyrical content suggests otherwise. Granted, there is a definite modern edge to some of these songs and some experimentation thrown in here and there. Like the song Falling Down which starts off with a really cool cowbell groove. Or Traces - the main riff is reminiscent of a riff I heard on Coroner's Grin.

That aside, I still fail to understand why the music has been tagged 'progressive doom metal'. Sure, the song Visions (Nightmares) is the same riff as Dream Theater's As I Am, but I'm not sure if that's reason enough for it to be filed under the progressive genre. A lot of these songs have great potential, but it feels as though they've rushed it up and finished it off without proper arrangement. Rob Lowe sounds as good as ever and there's also a cover of Man on the Silver Mountain included on this album. Although not as good as the SA cover of Shame on the Night or Heaven and Hell, it's still a decent try.

At the end of the day, this seems like one of those albums that has been put out just to test the waters. As for the Solitude Aeternus fans, this might be a sign of things to come.


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