Audio Mixer: Alex Newport.

Recording information: Hothead Recording, Los Angeles, CA; The Sound Factory.

The Locust take hardcore and strip it of even its most remote musical elements, concentrating instead on the violent mechanics and corrosive sonic wallop that first scared the parents and excited the kids so many years ago. On 2007's NEW ERECTIONS, the synth-driven, San Diego-based quartet sounds as menacing, nihilistic, and succinct as ever on their debut for the ANTI- label. So herky-jerky in their rhythmic and structural shifts you almost expect the group's collective necks to snap. But listeners beware, it is you who will be suing for whiplash by album's end.

If you don't quite understand the madcap, noisy genius of the Locust, the title of this disc should at least tip you off to how clever the band can be: New Erections pretty much captures their knack for scissoring words into shapes you hadn't gotten around to imagining. Musically, the album attacks from all the usual angles -- smart ("Book of Bot,"), scary ("Scavenger, Invader,") ridiculous ("Hot Tubs Full of Brand New Fuel"). It's as if the Beastie Boys took a six-week intensive vocabulary course and hooked up with a hot new grindcore band. Crazy? Yes. Carved from a melee, enigmatic yet well-crafted enough to merit your attention? Most definitely. ~ Tammy La Gorce