Conspiracy A.D. Humanity = Destruction ...The End is Near

I didn’t know what to expect from Conspiracy A.D.’s latest offering when it arrived in my mailbox. After reading through the one sheet, and seeing the band described as “Death-Core with Black Metal Elements,” I thought I was in for a rewarding listen. Even though their album layout is rather generic, I reminded myself of a lot of great albums I have heard with mediocre artwork. Unfortunately, with Conspiracy A.D., the cover art says it all about this band. As far as the one sheet’s description of their music, I would say it is on the money. To make a comparison, I would say that they sound like a cross between European mosh-metal (Caliban, Heaven Shall Burn) and maybe a touch of death grind in the vein of Dying Fetus/Misery Index (minus the drum wizardry). It sounds like a good hybrid, but their execution falls far short of the aforementioned bands. While here and there they come up with some good riffs, their songwriting skills definitely need some polishing. I found the album to be a very boring and uninspiring listen. I could almost predict every tempo change/riff as I made my way through the album. Needless to say, there isn’t a lot of originality on this album. Everything you hear on here has been done before, and done better. Talent-wise, the individuals have talent in their respected areas. The drummer is pretty competent, providing some solid blast beats, and double bass patterns. I would say without a decent drummer behind the kit, their music would suffer even more. The vocals are a combination of high-end rasps and low grunts, neither of which are particularly impressive. They don’t take away from the music, but don’t expect to be blown away by the vocal assault. The lyrics are mostly reflective of war themes, and humanity destroying the earth. They are pretty straightforward, and the concepts from the songs go along with the album title.The guitar riff selection is what hurts this album the most in my opinion. A lot of the riffs are extremely boring. Mostly generic mosh-metal riffs. There is some speed picking, a few harmonies here and there, and some hardcore chops, but almost everything the guitarists bring to the table sounds extremely uninventive. I would almost say if you took Caliban or Heaven Shall Burn, added more intensive drumming, and took away all of the emotion behind the music, this would be what you would end up with. In respect to the production, it’s definitely adequate. Definitely one of the album's few strengths. The band recorded with acclaimed producer Paso, who is probably best known for his work with Ephel Duath. The drums sound good overall and I have no real complaints in that area. I like the bass-to-guitar ratio as well. The guitars have a touch of grit and a mostly mid/high range tone, and the bass blends in nicely, giving the album a pretty good sounding string section. Personally, I like a little more punch to my guitar tone, but the guitars fit in nicely the way they are.The vocals sit well in the mix, even though the delivery could be a little stronger.But overall, it’s a pretty good sounding album. If only they had better music to back it up. Bottom Line: I really can’t recommend this album to anyone unless they are serious mosh-metal fanatics that just can’t get enough of the genre. Personally, I couldn’t find anything on this record to make me want to listen to it after I took it out of my CD player. It’s not a matter of it being a bad album. It’s just extremely mediocre and uncreative. It feels emotionless to me when I listen to it. And I would guess that with an album title like “Humanity = Destruction ...The End Is Near,” there is certainly some emotion behind the music (it seems like there is by reading the lyrics). Unless you have pockets full of money and can afford to take a risk on some CDs, I would skip over this one.