Based out of New Jersey, Infinitus Mortus (which started out as a one man studio project by Steve Megna - drums, guitar, and keys) are not influenced in any way by the contemporary hard rock sounds heard on local radio stations like WDHA or 95.9 The Rat. Instead, like fellow Jersey prog metal masters Symphony X, Infinitus looked to the European bands for inspiration, here citing Epica, Nightwish and Dimmu Borgir.

“The Conspiracy Of Love” follows the first self released album, “2012”, from 2010, with the inclusion of brother and sister, Vincent and Caitlin James trading off lead vocals and harmonies. Gothic piano and Caitlin’s bright smooth tone opens ‘Heart Of Stone’, rapid guitar and drums follow (seem a bit urgent), and Vincent joins in for the chorus. Not bad, but the flow and tempo (blast beats?) transitions seem uneven for me. ‘Plain hearts’ is much better and a more cohesive listen, very nice Nightwish-ish verses with the accompanying keyboards and moves smoothly into the chorus. Another solid piano piece starts ‘Love Is Not’, not sure though if the chugging riff works. There’s a nice Celtic influence from Blind Guardian in ‘Un-Happily Ever After’ and again piano is well placed (think I like it better than the inclusion of the keys). The middle eastern tinged (which is nicely creepy) ‘Dissolve’ includes splashes of Dimmu Borgir circa “Enthrone Darkness Triumphant”, the whole arrangement smoothly transitions a couple tempo (the drums get real crazy and it works) and melody changes with a strong chorus. One of my favorites. ‘Beauty. Lust. A Fake Love’ includes a very big dramatic keyboard reminisce of Phantom (Of The Opera). ‘One With The System’ breaks the albums symphonic vibe with the opening riff and straight forward arrangement (which is ok), still I think the male voice by itself here works better without the female inclusion (I felt the same way what Dimmu did on their last album “Abrahadabra”).

Pretty solid for a self released/solo project. Lots of great ideas and elements (guitar tone could be better), some are more focused and work better than others. Curious to see what the next album will be like.