Conspiracy

Concordat

Pulverized Records 2009

The second full length from Conspiracy is a one-man blackened thrash metal assault from this (now) Dutch mastermind, Al Hazred/Carpathian Wolf (Melechesh).  Album opener Mentally Ill God is a face-ripping black metal nightmare that weaves in some Dissection-ish melodies before developing some galloping thrash riffs.   Die in Style takes things up a notch with an infusion of death metal brutality and some amped up melodic passages.  An acoustic guitar somberly hails the arrival of the title track.   Suddenly Transilvanian Hunger styled melodies surge out of the dark void but quickly alternate their freezing demeanor with a deathly chilled low-end approach.   More acoustic strumming introduces Faith to the listener though this time it is accompanied by simple keys and deep clean vocals that call to mind heathenish pride.  The track wears Viking doom on its sleeve and calls to mind days of yore.  Courage, begins with a plodding pace with an almost funeral feel to it which then picks up steam as melodic leads accompany galloping drums.  The instrumental album closer, Final Veteran has more of a Katatonia feel to it with a somber melodic groove similar to Brave Murder Day era material.  A problem I have with the album is that the whole production on the disk has a somewhat muted feel to it and could do with a little sharpening up.  Conspiracy's latest album drips with venom and focused hatred.  The melodic aspects of the album serve well to add emotional depth and atmosphere though nothing groundbreaking occurs here.  Concordat is solid if unremarkable blackened thrash that fuses musical diversity into a well honed killing machine.