Conspiracy A.D.

On this side of the Atlantic the popularity of certain imports seem to indicate the only places metal is thriving is in the medieval Scandinavian and German cities of northern Europe. Italy’s Conspiracy A.D. maintains the harmonic tradition, paying homage to their Maiden beginnings and dissolving it through an updated black metal similar to that of Caliban. Overall this is a pretty standard issue metal album. The basic idea is two chords, in descending order, followed by some palm muted chug breakdowns and topped off with some frivolous, hurried Gothenburg tag. The vocals are dynamic, layering a lower growl and a throat-tearing yak, both usually leaning more towards traditional ghastly black metal voices. CAD is just another victim of ideological cliché. That being said, the theme of obliteration is definitely inherent to metal but has begun to restrain recent efforts in prolific numbers.