The Locust
Plague Soundscapes

THE REVIEW

When it comes to a group like the Locust, you can't use half measures. The issue is quite simple: take it or leave it. Yes, because the San Diego quartet certainly doesn't produce music to listen to comfortably in an armchair or during a romantic evening with your lady of the moment.

The sound of our guys is as extreme as you can imagine, an explosive mix of grindcore, tons of noise, and electronic experimentation that, already in '99, had made its mark with the self-titled debut EP, which quickly became a "cult album" in the underground music scene. In 2003, they return to devastate our auditory canals with Plague Soundscapes, an even crazier album branded Anti, a subsidiary label of Epitaph attentive to the most diverse sounds. 23 perfect tracks for 25 minutes of pure sonic terrorism (with the benefit of excellent recording and the production of Alex Newport, already producer and sound engineer for major bands like Sepultura and At The Drive In), in which the lucid madness of our Californian triffids fully stands out and gives us magnificent pieces with impossible and near-nonsense titles like "Identity Exchange Program Rectum Return Policy," "How To Become A Virgin," "Anything Jesus Does I Can Do Better" (what are they on to come up with these names???) or the final and longest "Pickup Truck Full Of Forty Minutes" (3 minutes and 51 seconds, incredible!), which mark the achievement of full artistic, stylistic, and musical maturity of the Locust.

Of course, Plague Soundscapes is not an album for everyone, and perhaps listening to it sober would not give much, but if you're not afraid of extremism and want to indulge in about half-an-hour of wild pogo (also welcome in an armchair), the Locust is for you. Everyone else, opt for a book by Francesco Alberoni or, alternatively, steer clear.