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Review Summary: A seesaw swaying frantically back and forth. It’s normally easier to review an album that you can break into parts using some simple criteria. Like, “okay, there are three fast songs, three mid-tempo tracks, and a ballad” or “there’s one epic, two short songs released as singles, and a few 5+ minutes long songs.” Any common denominator will do. However, it is impossible to perform such a simple breakdown with this album. “Conspiracy Theory” by Polish metalcore band Frontside keeps changing as it goes or rather fluctuating between different states of matter.
At first, you’d think that Frontside made a sequel to their uncompromising and blasphemous second LP “…and Forgive us our Sins,” and that impression will persist for quite some time. The opener “Herezia Doskonala” (“Perfect Heresy”) starts with Auman letting out a roar transitioning into a mean screech over some tremolo picking and fast drumming, proceeds with the singer roaring “Imagine there’s no heaven, imagine there’s no hell” in Polish (yes, I also think that sappy John Lennon song could use some kicking), and concludes with even meaner shrieks and roars repeating “Where is your God?!” over and over again. The album retains this quite significant level of heaviness for a while, especially on the third song “Zapalnik” (“Detonator”) which is basically Auman going absolutely apesh*t over some monumental riffs non-stop for almost three minutes. A fittingly brief and intense track.
However, in the fourth song “Uciec Przeznaczeniu” (“To Escape Destiny”) the first clean chorus hits, and we are reminded that this is not only the band that made “…and Forgive us our Sins,” but also the band that released “Absolutus,” an album that explored a relatively more melodic direction. It is important to note though, that the shrieks and roars and blast-beats are not going anywhere, they just share the space with some melodic leads and clean singing within the song. So, it’s not like the band has gone completely soft on us. Instead, Frontside keeps skillfully combining the brutal and melodic sections, an approach that often leads to some unexpected and exciting results.
The fifth song “Stąd do Przeszłości” (“From Here to the Future”) is a particularly wonderful example. You can see that the title calls to mind an Iron Maiden song “From Here to Eternity,” and the track indeed opens with some distinctly Maiden-esque leads that would have made Steve Harris proud. However, the pre-chorus features Auman issuing orders like a commander of a brigade ready to charge “Not right now…. Not right now… Not now… GO!,” upon which the song erupts into a crushing chorus with the singer delivering his best Chuck Billy impersonation. May God be my witness, this guy’s lower range is insane!
This is how the album goes on with another high-tension outburst of energy “Spłoniesz w piekle” (“You’ll Burn in Hell”) and hardcore energy of “Zerwane Więzi” (“Severed Ties”) giving way to almost power metal melodies of “Nadchodzi Koniec” (“The End is Near”) and a song like “Katharsis” which has the vibe of “Regenerate,” one of the lightest Fear Factory tracks. And so it goes until the very last song “W Cieniu Krzyża” (“In the Shadow of a Cross”), which starts off with a soft acoustic intro which made me think that they’ve decided to do a ballad again (their previous album “Absolutus” contained a ballad which was serviceable but corny). But, after the lengthy lullaby intro and the following melodic lead is over, Auman roars back to life, and the band is fully back to the heavy business once again.
This persistent alternation between the lighter and darker (heavier) path is, in my opinion, the main value of “Conspiracy Theory,” its defining unique feature. I would say that Frontside gets more creative with “soft-to-heavy” transitions, whereas for the opposite switch they rarely can think of something other than a short melodic lead or a clean chorus. Such choruses often consist of just a couple of lines and somewhat kill the momentum of their respective song, although thankfully Auman has the voice to carry the clean parts without sounding strained or sugary. Overall, though, the album is quite a wild and unorthodox mixture, and when it hits, it hits hard. I give a slight preference to “Absolutus” because that album’s simple but good-hearted lyrics have been a source of support for me these days, but musically “Conspiracy Theory” is maybe even wackier.
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Album Rating: 4.0
Here's a link to "Zapalnik" music video. It's a nice one: https://youtu.be/hUPnAqP3C9E?si=MseXeMMaPbNuTzVB
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Nice work, Lou — easy pos + you're on fire lately with a lot of well-written reviews! Your Frontside reviews in general are quite good and I'm intrigued to give their discography a spin. What would be a good starting point in your opinion—should I listen in chronological order?
I will say this in regards to this review: it is your most track-by-track one, which isn't a bad thing, but I have a preference towards your reviews that start their paragraphs with broader themes and observations before citing a couple of songs as examples (like The Hardkiss reviews, for example; I will listen to that poppier album, I swear). You've found a thematic thread in this review: that this album has a well-executed balance of soft and hard moments and transitions between them nicely through the sheer conviction that the singer brings with his vocals. I'd love it if you could have highlighted it more throughout the review instead of the more track-by-track approach.
But that's just me, and it's still a persuasive piece and I'd love to check this band out!
A few typos/fixes I noticed:
Paragraph 1, Line 5-6: “Conspiracy Theory” by a Polish metalcore band Frontside > the "a" is unnecessary here.
Paragraph 2, Line 3-4: Auman letting out a roar transiting into a mean screech > I assume you mean transitioning here? I don't think "transiting into" is outright wrong here, but "transitioning into" fits slightly better.
Paragraph 2, Line 6: concludes with still meaner shrieks > "still meaner" sounds awkward and feels like "even meaner" is what you were going for.
Paragraph 4, Line 6-7: May God by my witness > May God be my witness
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Hi Chris! Thanks, I fixed the typos that you mentioned. Note that I am not the only one doing Frontside reviews, Arthropod started the whole gig by writing about their newest album, and I suggested to join later. For now, each of us covered three albums. Maybe chronological approach is not the best in this case. Try Twilight of the Gods and see if you like it. Or maybe Nemesis or, for still heavy but more melodic approach, Absolutus can do
As for track-by-track, I just couldn't find a better approach for this album, to be honest. It happens sometimes. For The Hardkiss I just had to give broader context at least in my first review, because nobody here knows the band. Which is also true for Frontside, but there are several other reviews of their albums by now where a reader can get some additional information. For this one, I wanted to keep things simple
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I do remember arthropod starting those Frontside reviews; I think Twilight of the Gods was the first and I remember it most from that twisted album cover. I shall begin from there!
For what it's worth, your review is still really good and persuasive and enjoyed having this as my first read of the day. Indeed, approaching a review with a simpler format is sometimes better for the review itself; though track-by-track may not be my preference, I'll happily take it when it is as well-written as it is here.
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Slick review as usual. A note from me, "przeszłość" actually means "past" in Polish (one letter difference from "przyszłość", which is pretty funny now that I think about it, but I don't think it affects the rest of the paragraph much). Also, sorry for the reviewing delay on my part, my time schedule is skewed.
And Chris, glad you're interested in this stuff. Definitely give Twilight a shot, it seems to be the starting point for most people and works very well as one.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
My bad, lack of exposure to Polish in the last few years takes its toll. It's actually logical that your Absolutus review is directly above this one. I hope people read them in that order. Honestly, just follow your own schedule with this reviewing exercise, just as I do.
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