Locusta - Locusta
Self-released
Death/Progressive/Black Metal
10 songs (47:21)
Release year: 2010
Reviewed by Vrechek

"Death/Progressive/Black Metal" Hmm, that's kind of an odd way to write a genre tag.

Indeed, Locusta is quite odd. I guess you could call it Death Metal. I guess you could call it Progressive Metal. I suppose you might even get away with calling it Blackened Death, though that's starting to push it in most parts of this album. It's all of these and none of these, it switches fast enough to make pigeonholing nigh impossible.

If I were to describe it, it'd be kind of like a Progressive Metal band deciding to make something "EXTREME". They've got their growly vocalist, their rhythm-centric dissonant riffs, and their bangy and wild drumming. However, it all seems as though they're just tossing these Death and Black elements on top of a Prog-Power framework, a kind of faux-Extreme riff salad. The production is certainly on my side; the lead guitar tone is tight, crisp, slick, and in many cases declawed. The song Vlad Tepes backs me up here: an instrumental that is pretty much a musical circle jerk, with not a shred of Death or Black Metal to be found.

The opener War of Knaves, however, is a snappy and technical start to the album that features legit Death Metal riffs but also aforementioned guitar wankery. Following that is Mutiny, which seems to be more on the Black side of things, what with the more buzzy and high guitar tone. And then there's the really weird stuff, such as the bizzare bounce in Death or Devotion, or the entirety of Dusk At The Mausoleum. I don't know what they were thinking putting in a Gothic Doom piece, perhaps they just wanted to stretch their sub-genre mingling gimmick as far as it could go.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh on Locusta. I mean, sure they toss out masturbatory solos on top of everything, but don't get me wrong, there are some really kick ass Death/Black riffs in here. It just ends up being too schizophrenic for my taste, missing out on a unifying theme of darkness or evil that all great Extreme Metal albums have. If shred-tastic and melodic solos over growls and decent Death Metal riffs sounds like a cool mix to you, then this might become more dear to your heart than mine.

Killing Songs :
Mutiny, Dusk at the Mausoleum, Into the Tomb, Masters Ethereal
Vrechek quoted 72 / 100
Other albums by Locusta that we have reviewed:
Locusta - Dendromorphosis reviewed by Alex and quoted no quote
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