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Uriah Heep: John Sloman (vocals, piano, percussion); Trevor Bolder (vocals, bass); Ken Hensley (guitar, piano, vocodor, synthesizer, background vocals); Mick Box (guitar); Chris Slade (drums, percussion). Additional personnel: Gerry Bron (timpani). Includes liner notes by Robert M. Corich. Digitally remastered by Mike Brown and Robert M. Corich (1997). Using the departure of John Lawton and Lee Kerslake as the catalyst, Uriah Heep discarded the outmoded style of Fallen Angel for the contemporary sound of Conquest. Similar to High and Mighty, the arrangements are relatively agile, favoring strategy over sheer force. However, vocalist John Sloman, late of Lone Star, is an acquired taste. He tends to twist around the words (even launching into an Eastern chant at times) like a lower-octane version of Geddy Lee. It's a distraction, one made more visible by the band's decision to clean up their music with modern instruments and effects, and the final product sometimes feels like the Alan Parsons Project with Tim Finn at the microphone. Uriah Heep seems to evolve in fits and starts, resting at one spot for too long and then jumping ahead of fans' expectations by reinventing themselves (often in concert with a personnel change). Still, Conquest may be a better album than anything recorded by the John Lawton lineup, at least judging by quality of material. "No Return," "Imagination," "Won't Have to Wait Too Long," and "Carry On" are all good tracks, even if they're not readily identifiable as the work of Uriah Heep. "Feelings" follows in the footsteps of such popular ballads as "Free Me," although Sloman's voice simply isn't the best delivery mechanism for this. Elsewhere, bassist Trevor Bolder emerges as a solid songwriter, even taking lead vocals on the closing "It Ain't Easy" (not to be confused with the old Ziggy nugget). Yet the band again chafed at change, and after a pair of singles they broke up, with Bolder and Mick Box soldiering on without Ken Hensley for the first time in a decade. ~ Dave Connolly
