AM Conspiracy

Self-Titled

(Burnhill Union)

Forget for a moment that AM Conspiracy frontman Jason “Gong” Jones spent time manning vocals for Drowning Pool. Forget that he took over for Dave Williams, who, at the time, was one of the most charismatic and promising frontmen in rock music. And forget that Desensitized, the one record that Jones cut while with Drowning Pool, was the band's worst, well, until they released Full Circle. That’s really a story for another time.

Jones is back, this time with his new digs, AM Conspiracy, and the band’s debut self-titled record.

This disc is good, but forgettable. More often than not it plays on the aggro side of things, ala Sevendust or Dark New Day, complete with growling, borderline guttural vocals laced with enough Southern tinged grit to get fans interested, while the crunchy, full-on dirtiness of Drew Burke and Rob DeHaven’s guitar riffs with keep them there. Jones sometimes calls to mind the vocal gnash of Phil Anselmo behind the mic, but those on-again, off-again moments of clarity are pretty fleeting. There are some well structured hard rock songs throughout (“Welt,” “Pictures”), proving that these boys have some chops to go along with their swagger, and while there’s no doubting the fact that the band can craft some quality tunes fit for arena tours (“Down,” “Believe”), overall this record is simply lacking something.