Review Summary: Unto The Locust tries and tries and tries, and somehow still manages to tread water for a whole album
The Blackening is regarded as one of the greatest heavy metal releases of the 2000s, and a great many would not struggle to see why. Whilst it was most definitely not flawless, the album struck a caustic balance between heaviness and musicality in which it seemed the two would eventually destroy each other. What ultimately happened was a marriage of melody, anger and poignant instrumentality that very few will question as an outstanding entry to the genre, which also stood head and shoulders over their other releases. Producing a follow-up was always going to be a challenge, but many (not least the band’s rabid fanbase) held out hope that the band would be able to make something that equalled, if not surpassed,
The Blackening. But now in the cold light of after-release clarity, it can be plainly seen that
Unto The Locust is a wet firecracker; an unsatisfying and wispy fart in lieu of a promised glorious explosion.
Retrospective is a funny thing. When a band produces a critically acclaimed album, all eyes linger on them for what they’re going to make next. When the new release drops, there’s always a chorus of decidedly too eager (considering they didn’t seem to exist until Machine Head required a crusader or 3000) voices that pipe up and claim the band has bettered their previous effort. Yes, rejoice, for the saviours of modern metal have returned! However, wait a couple of weeks, and things will go suspiciously quiet, and all of the post-release affectionate sentiments in the world can’t cover the embarrassment of new-found irrelevancy. The unfortunate sentiment, ‘the customer is always right’ has resulted in some of the worst musical atrocities in history being released and making unfathomable amounts of money, but the problem with
Unto The Locust, regardless of the initial reaction, is that it’s too self-aware. For the whole length of its running time, it feels like it’s teetering on the edge of Blackening-esque memorability, but it never gets there. With an outstretched hand it grasps for the status it so desperately aspires to, but doesn’t seem to realize it hasn’t progressed an inch during the whole album.
I Am Hell (Sonata In C#) starts off with a mantra-like chanting and soon advances into a simple riff and the dulcet tones of Flynn as he declares the song’s title with admirable bile. So far, so Machine Head. As soon as this fairly enjoyable section is over, however, the song segues into an awkward and uninventive riff accompanied by Flynn attempting to sing at the same tempo. It feels chaotic, as if the song itself were unfinished. The chorus, which Machine Head are usually very competent at crafting for live occasions, feels shoehorned in and lacks the punch and underlying sense of reverence found on earlier releases (‘Halo’, ‘Davidian’, even ‘White Knuckle Blackout’). Second track ‘Be Still And Know’ is the strongest on the album and manages to illustrate how a simple riff can be used to create a grandiose effect. The chorus and bridge section are pleasantly ambiguous, straddling comfortably between hope and hopelessness, both in tone and lyrical theme. Despite it being the strongest song on this release however, it doesn’t come close to matching the quality of songwriting found anywhere on
The Blackening.
Songs such as ‘Locust’, ‘Darkness Within’ and ‘Pearls Before The Swine’ are pure fodder, both in their writing and lyricism, with lead single ‘Locust’ being a notable example of this. All of the riffs feel like leftovers that didn’t make the cut on
The Blackening, and the repeated interlude of Flynn screaming ‘suffer unto the locust!’ is clearly intended to make teeth rattle and bones vibrate. Instead all it does is feel stale and uninspired. It is on such songs as these where Machine Head really start to sound like a poorly drawn caricature of themselves, with all the meaningful religious and political themes eschewed to make way for faux-philosophical meanderings. A perfectly respectable decision in theory, but in practice, the end result is one of indifference and almost total irrelevance. ‘Who We Are’ is a woefully average sing-along exercise that is somehow utterly ridiculous but quite listenable, making use of a children’s choir to sing the intro, and predictably descending into an anthemic, insipid crowd-howler. ‘This Is The End’ probably demonstrates the thrash sensibilities of the band best, with a crushing drum beat, impressive solo, and nice usage of clean vocals. The song itself, however, is repetitive and only memorable for this reason.
Across the 50-minute runtime, there is little on display that feels in keeping with what listeners know Machine Head is capable of, and in terms of their previous album, there’s nothing on here that can hold a candle to it. It’s a 50-minute exercise into what could have been; at once on the verge of the strikingly memorable sound the band at one point tailored, but at the same time not making any sort of advancement towards it. With songs of this length, a band as reputable as this, and even their lead singer producing, that’s pretty poor.
