Sometimes when you are mad at the world various reactions can follow. You can cry, you can get numb inside, or you could start smashing things. Me, I normally get numb, but once in a while smashing things can help. Fellow Ohioans Locusta, as their Dendromorphosis EP evidences, can be a good soundtrack to when things don't usually go your way, and breaking a piece or two comes to mind.

Labelled as death grind, I would rather file Locusta under progressive technical death, and even that comes with multiple diverse influences. Somehow I can't call grind a piece of music which does not always propel forward with blinding speeds and punk simplicity. Dendromorphosis, on the opposite, displays tempo variations from song to song, as well as within individual cuts. Locusta can go for heavy brutal drag (Contaminant Remains, parts ofSee Through Dreams), something rather American, definitely urban and at various level almost hadrcore. But then Cellular Transmutation Through will open with breakneck speed, chaos raising, quick picked notes and solo, before finishing the song with methodical riffing destruction - a blend any band currently on Unique Leader would appreciate. Vocals, most of them gravely roars, have enough of both depth and angst in them to straddle the deathcore line.

At the same time the band instrumental prowess and melodic expanse amidst the aforementioned double bass infused chaos (See Through Dreams) cannot be overlooked and that is the reason why "progressive" has to be associated with Locusta. And to provide an even more unexpected angle The Cull displays the most melodic blackened tremolo, extends the solo significantly, the song at home with Abigail Williams or some Swedish melodic black metal acts. The slower catchy post-hardocre killer riff brings me home stateside, back to reality, and ... back to smashing things.

Dendromorphosis EP is a quick trip which showcases Locusta's sizable instrumental abilities and most definitely versatility floating between extreme metal genres.