The name of the game for the Locust is compression. They use, basically, the same instruments as the Rick Wakeman band: keyboard, guitar, distortion pedals, drum. Instead of attempts dethroning the “wizard of the keyboard” and making epic length songs about mythical beasts prancing through enchanted forests, the Locust turn the sock inside out, cut song length down to pretty much zip, and wad it into a little, radioactive ball. Then they file the songs under titles like “Your Mantel Disguised as a Psychic Sasquatch.” And they’re pretty fuckin’ awesome at pulling it off. It’s often silly (“it’s time for the eyeball crotch to have a looksee”), but their tongues are firmly planted deep inside their powerviolence-inclined cheeks. Pretty sweet, and pretty much guaranteed to clear the room of people who can’t handle a little noise. Plague Soundscapes is like Cliff’s Notes for people with ADD.
–todd (Anti/Epitaph)