King Diamond is a well-polished power metal band whose falsetto vocals heavily influence modern day metal acts like 3 Inches of Blood and my personal favorite, The Lurking Corpses. Simply put, these Danes are musical geniuses. With that in mind, Conspiracy is a real departure from my typical grindcore and death metal interests. I don’t listen to many power metal acts, and I’m only passingly familiar with Megadeth and Iron Maiden, two bands who King Diamond largely remind me of. While this type of metal is not ordinarily my first choice, I cannot deny that Conspiracy is littered with moments of musical brilliance and technical creativity.

Conspiracy is a continuation of the story line of Them (1987) in which King Diamond must enlist his dead sister to help him uncover the mysteries from his – you know what, who cares? They shred, they shriek, they write interesting songs. This album is definitely a slow cooker though. I wasn’t too incredibly impressed until Lies, a punchy song with plenty of catchy hooks and superior vocals. Amon Belongs To Them is another melodic masterpiece that hooks itself right into your inner ear.

The tracks are very experimental, even by today’s standards. Much of the album borders on prog-metal, especially the acoustic half of A Visit From The Dead and the ending of At The Graves. Cremation, aside from boasting the fiercest Elmo shrieks of the entire album, sounds like a lost track on Castlevania. This is a good thing. It has awesome riffs, a dual guitar melodic section and drum solos galore overtop a continuous tapping riff that really keeps the song pushing forward. Not all of the experimentation yields positive results, however. Something Weird lives up to its title, and not in a good way. While it is still a good song, the opening of At The Graves proves that King Diamond vocals and carnival orchestras don’t mix.

Overall, this album is worth a listen if you don’t mind waiting a bit for the good parts. Each song has its own distinct feel and logical flow. The production value is great and Kim Bendix Peterson’s one-of-a-kind vocals only emphasize the incredible musical talent behind it. Though it is not the most accessible metal album (stay away if you do not like synthesizers), Conspiracy is an excellent addition to the King Diamond discography.