The Locust: New Erections
By Team JamBase Jul 13, 2007 • 12:00 am PDT

For those seeking some literal widespread panic look no further than The Locust. The vehement New Erections (Anti) is their longest album yet, clocking in at a whole 23 minutes, and reaching new DEFCON 1 heights bands like Drive Like Jehu and Melt Banana could reach if they had garbage bags full of amphetamine sulfates. Plus, any band, like The Locust, that adamantly refuses to play at any venue associated with Clear Channel, can’t be half bad just for that.
Plenty of tree shredder disco and grind core math rock is the stuff the Locust’s dreams are made of. Singer Justin Pearson screeches in spastic dereliction like he’s frantically itching all the bugs crawling under his skin. There’s no shortage of mood swings with this bipolar banshee that’s been off his Depakote for weeks straight. The rest of the band’s instrumental onslaught is like one last party before going off to battle in some Orwellian future, which looks to be drawing closer more and more each day with the help of folks like Michael Chertoff and Dick Cheney.
Joey Karam’s chirping synthesizers invade like a swarm of rabid mutant cicada terrorizing everything in their path. But it’s also Karam who lays down his synths in a way that recalls Philip Glass‘ score for the film Koyaanisqatsi, evoking a future where cyborgs pick the bones of what’s left after mankind ruins the Earth. If you’re still wondering about The Locust, just imagine a little bit of Devo and a whole lot of nuclear war.
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