It's pretty obvious who the influences are of Ohio's Co-Conspirator after one listen to their brand new EP Unknowing. Images of Behold the Arctopus, Watchtower, King Crimson, Atheist, Spiral Architect, Spastik Ink, Planet X, Dream Theater, Gordian Knot, The Mars Volta, Cynic, well...you get the picture, basically technical prog & metal bands who are the leaders of the genre. It's a good bunch to be lumped in with, and Co-Conspirator can certainly add their name to this list after folks who are into the whole technical metal thing get a load of this EP. The band is a four piece featuring guitar, drums, Warr guitar, and vocals, and these guys are really locked into each other in a pretty uncanny way. Heavy, complex guitar riffs and nimble Warr guitar grooves fly about the mix on the crushing insanity that is the instrumental title track, a brutal piece that not only has plenty of complex instrumentation but wild vocal screams from Eric Nepodal. Warr guitarist/Chapman Stick player Morgan D Phelps and drummer Ken Kimmel provide plenty of funky and nimble grooves on "Debt to Inspire", while guitarist Tom McCain lets loose with some fiery, distortion laced solos and beefy riffs. This piece almost has a Primus like feel to it, thanks to Phelps' gymnastic lines. "Fleeting" is just flat out kick ass progressive metal, with Nepodal returning with lots of high pitched wailing and supported by heavy, complex riff 'o' rama and plenty of crashing drum blasts. There's even some atmospheric improvisations about midway through the piece that sound a bit like 70's King Crimson, before the band lurches back in with more bombastic metal mayhem. There are two versions of "Nothing New" on the CD, an edited piece and a longer one that clocks in at almost 9-minutes. This is a good tune, kind of a head on collision between King Crimson, Edge of Sanity, Skid Row, and Spastik Ink. Technical metal geekoids will drool over some of the amazing spots and ridiculous synergy between these guys on this tune, as well as every other song on this too short but highly enjoyable release. It's 30 minutes well spent if you like your metal complex as hell and full of surprises. Can't wait to see what these guys can with an hours worth of material and a killer production job.
Track Listing
1) Nothing New
2) Unknowing
3) Debt to Inspire
4) Fleeting
5) Nothing New (unabridged)
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