Review Summary: The Locust's self-titled is good, quick, and menacing.
This album is simply ridiculous. Every bit of the lyrics is hysterical (with a hint of witty intelligence), the keyboard is the melody for the majority, and it is just an overall explosion. It is the almost equivalent of diarrhea spewing out of an elephant. The Locust managed to cram twenty songs in sixteen minutes with their self-titled release. In fact, I think this album was made for people with attention deficit disorder because I cannot remain focused on one song at a time; it goes by too f
ucking quickly. The album is noisy, raw, and productive. While this is a considerable step up from their earliest work, it still pales in comparison to their newest releases. The vocals are incomprehensible throughout with at times piercing screams, but the instruments make up for it. During this record, some excellent drum patterns provided are clearly hardcore punk influenced, and the fills coalesce well with the overall direction of the music. The drum and bass can act as walls of sound but at the same time carry the song. Likewise, the keyboard drives this album to a greater standard of listening.
The keyboard holds down the melody for a good portion of the album. The keyboard parts are particularly brilliant on “Moth-Eaten Deer Head” when it brings the song into full swing after the heap of noise created by the guitar to make something that sounds like a swarm of Locusts. There is a brief pause with only the keyboard in the middle and it is a fantastic and evil carnival-type sound produced. In addition, “Twenty-Three Full-Time Cowboys” has a quite noticeable keyboard intro that sets the tempo for the entire song. However, the bass and guitar are more on the abrasive side like on tracks such as, “Brand New Set of Teeth” and “Backbones of Jack Asses,” but they make it work in a sick and twisted beautiful manner by manipulating to perfection. A noticeable drum oriented song would be “Halfway To A Worthless Ideal Arrangement (An Interlude To A Discontinued Sarcastic Harmony...Yea Whatever)” where the song begins with a rolling fill and then eventually breaks off into a grind break down to end the song. The songs do retain their own unique identity whether it is the song with the weird keyboard trill or the song with that sick distorted bass pause.
The bottom line is that this is a grind and thrash medley of songs. It goes by so quick and so efficiently, you may double take what you just heard. Regardless, it can be enjoyable for what you make it as, expect something unpolished and abrasive. In addition, expect something that has the change to bloom into what it is today. The Locust finds a way to make it fun for listeners. While it is nowhere near their best work, this album is a good way to show how the The Locust evolved. So if you want your a
ss kicked, check it out and recognize The Locust are not here to be the beauty queens of music.
Recommended Tracks:
Moth - Eaten Deer Head
Brand New Set Of Teeth
The Perils Of Believing In Round Squares
Straight From The Horses Mouth
Backbones Of Jack Asses
High-Maintenance Libido, Bring The Whole Family
