LOCUST GROVE – The Battle of Locust (2022)

Hailing from Oklahoma City, LOCUST GROVE has released their first full length album titled “The Battle of Locust“. The band takes their name and album title from a local historical event; The Battle Of Locust Grove was a Civil War skirmish fought near Locust Grove in present Mayes County, Oklahoma. But their music isn’t ancient at all: this is is a rocking four piece mixing classic hard rock with very modern riffs and sound production.
In fact, the band should be named ‘Locust Groove‘. Yeah, this is monster groove driving album with many textures and sheer aggression to put its message across. “The Battle of Locust” is a riff heavy, groove spitting beast, carrying a fair amount of melody behind all blustering intensity.

Songs like “The Battle of Locust” and “Sick of It” are built on groove-heavy rhythm section and therefore pack a wallop that’s truly hard to resist, while dark lyrics courtesy of frontman/guitarist Zain Smith infuse the package with an insubordinate, almost feral like attitude.
His screams and screeches are effectively merged with some laboured singing, however, it’s not just about unadulterated pugnacity running rampant throughout the set.

Locust Grove prove more than decent in terms of musicianship by integrating a healthy sense of variety were it matters. The dual guitar assault of Smith and Vincent Charles Lindstrom is integral to the band’s power and muscle, supplying densely dark riffs and laying a superb solo here and there.
With this in mind, after some singles and one EP, “The Battle of Locust” is more or less a consolidation of the band’s strengths, and thus a strong debut album.
Highly Recommended

01 – One Foot in the Grave
02 – The Battle of Locust
03 – Bluebird
04 – S.O.S.
05 – Sick of It All
06 – Heat My Blood
07 – These Hands
08 – Why Run
09 – Hard to Change
10 – Worth My Time
11 – Learn to Crawl
12 – Days Gone

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