Concordat (CD - 2009)

Conspiracy is the type of name one would expect from a punk, post-punk, or alternative rock act rather than from an extreme metal act, but Conspiracy's second album, Concordat, is, in fact, an extreme metal album -- and the brains behind this 2009 release is bassist Carpathian Wolf, aka Al'Hazred, best known for his work with the adventurous, Jerusalem-based black metal/death metal band Melechesh (who have combined extreme metal with Middle Eastern music). If death metal and black metal bands from Sweden, Norway, and Finland can blend extreme metal with Scandinavian folk and make it work, there is no reason why a band based in Jerusalem shouldn't offer an extreme metal/Middle Eastern hybrid -- and Melechesh (which Wolf/Al'Hazred left in 2008) have done exactly that. Concordat isn't as intriguing or risk-taking as Melechesh, but this is still a generally decent, if mildly inconsistent, black metal/death metal effort that offers a healthy amount of variety. Concordat gets off to a vicious start with "Mentally Ill God" and continues to pummel the listener ruthlessly on "Die in Style," "Terrorized into Submission," and the title tune. Judging from the first few tracks, one could easily assume that everything on Concordat is an exercise in brutality for the sake of brutality. But Concordat takes a much more melodic turn on the moody, haunting, folk-influenced "Faith," and "Limited to 666" and the instrumental "Last Veteran" are also nuanced in a way that the disc's harshest material is not. Anyone who expects Concordat to be as challenging or as imaginative as Melechesh's albums will be disappointed, but this 43-minute CD has more ups than downs and indicates that Conspiracy is worth keeping an eye on. ~ Alex Henderson minimize