Review Summary: Plauge Soundscapes is all you could ever want in a band like the locust rolled up into 23 wonderful, unforgetable tunes.
23 songs in 21 minutes. This I find is the biggest thing that stands out on Plague Soundscapes by the Locust. This amazing band is known for their short songs/albums. But none personifies as well as this one. Most of the songs don’t even hit the one minute mark, making this a speedy experience that you’ll never forget.
This album doesn’t even wait to hit you with the brick wall. The first song, “Recyclable Body Fluids In Human Form,” jumps out in full Locust regalia, not missing a beat and screws your head up, in the best way, in disbelief in a mere 41 seconds. The Song starts off with heavy bass and drum and is then joined by some good old fashioned guitar and yelping witch stops for a second to announce the synth, then all hell breaks loose. The screaming, bass, guitar, drums continue on in the alien noise The Locust, it seams, have worked so hard to perfect. This leaves you hungering for more like you’ll never believe. The next song,” Identity Exchange Program Rectum Return Policy,” hits you even harder, making your heart beat race faster than you even thought possible. As soon as that first song is finished this one picks up right where it left off, except louder and faster. All instruments tune in at once accompanied by lyrics and doesn’t stop till the 58 seconds are up. The first “break,” if you’ll allow me, comes about 50 or so seconds into the 6th song, “Wet Dream War Machine,” after being hit with hard, fast instrumentation and screaming lyrics. But you better be in for the long haul, because that’s the first and only. Hold on to your seat, because you’re in for 17 more songs that will take you on a rollercoaster of blast beats, bug noises, yells, and mind exploding sounds you didn’t even think existed until now.
The song that stood out the most to me was “Live From the Russian Compound” which is the 4th song. I know this is the “big” song that everyone knows about, but there’s a reason for it. It really stands out with it’s beginning, of every instrument playing loud and in sync, yet totally chaotic, then it cuts to just the keyboard and scream/yelps/yells. It continues alternating like this for all 58 seconds of the song. But I guarantee you won’t forget it.
The instrumentation on this album is everything you’d expect from the locust and more. There’s a very heavy keyboard presence throughout the album setting it apart from most bands you would consider in a “genre” with the locust. All of the vocals are in yelps, screams, and whatever else you’d like to call it. All the instruments are played at a very fast pace brining tons of energy out of this unique style of music. The guitar work isn’t to fancy, but when all the instruments come together it won’t matter. This album is more about the whole sound instead of the individual instruments. The way the band is able to cram so much sound into such a tiny amount of time shows a lot of their knowledge of timing. The sporadic noise blasts that occur in many of the songs are skillfully placed and really stand out to emphasize and influence the whole atmosphere.
From what I take from the album it’s very political in nature, which shouldn’t surprise anyone since The Locust are very politically driven in nature. The lyrics, though not many of them, are very well thought out with lines such as:
”All hail the chopper,
the blitzkrieg,
the tank,
Never mind the ethics involved”
Short, sweet, and too the point with tons of meaning depending on how you interpret. And unless you have the hearing of a bat, don’t even try to figure the lyrics out without a paper in front of. The yelps, yells and screams are virtually impossible to decipher.
I love this album. It’s one of my all time favorites, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the locust or any music that comes out of Three One G records in General. And it’s the Locust at their greatest.