The Amenta - Plague of Locus
There is a quote in David Lynch’s Eraserhead where Bill says: “I thought I heard a stranger. We've got chicken tonight. Strangest damn things. They're man made. Little damn things. Smaller than my fist.” Eraserhead is a movie about a man trying to survive his industrial environment and the screams of his newborn child. The human condition. Like in Eraserhead, it is the strange left of centre and off kilter sensibility that reveals itself in the finest of extreme and dark art. Jackie Smit of the brilliant Into the Necrosphere Podcast often describes the Australian extreme metal scene as left of centre. In its ingredients, the Aussie scene is the same as all others, but the island has a slant that is recognisable to those that listen carefully. Listen to Nazxul’s record, Totem, and try to compare it to any second wave Black Metal band in existence - Nope, Nil, n0n. Then take The Amenta and their uncompromising blend of extreme metal, industrial elements and electronics, and mix it with a clear love of dark art, cinema and soundtracks and you have artists here that are peerless. The human condition on display - ugly, filthy and real.
Plague of Locus is The Amenta revealing their inspirations through a blender with a stranger and the little damn things. Tossing a salad at a table with arms that can’t move. Plague of Locus is an EP of covers that inspired the band from the late 90's to early 2000's, around the time the band were forming as Crucible of Agony. The Amenta put their inspirations through their own filter and warp them, reborn into Plague of Locus. At times the EP ( at 42 minutes in duration) does not sound man made in the conscious sense, simply a turn of several extreme nightmares. Plague of Locus is dark, brooding, often disturbing and uncomfortable. The mood that the band create is the epitome of dark art in the form of extreme music. Tim Pope is front and centre, forming an immense atmosphere with his eery take on synths, messed up electronics, strangled violins, samples and keys - it feels like you should look over your shoulder at every turn.
After the industrial pulsed intro, The Amenta drop the listener into Sono L’Antichristo (I am the Antichrist), unearthing the shit of God, essentially an original track with Diamanda Galas' deranged and unhinged style and lyrics on point. The listener can become immersed in The Amenta’s world, where hope has become a trip of the guts and teeth slice through the bone like butter. You will emerge to the surface of an oil slicked ocean in time, maggots rising from the mouth regurgitated from fish, before being pulled back under.
More often than not, a covers compilation is put together with little thought to the sequencing. However, The Amenta care for their art. The effort here is obvious. Plague of Locus flows like a movie, the 5 minute intermission coming with A Million Years, starting with an industrial heartbeat, moving through sharp yet ominous Tarkovsky like sounds, lurking instruments into your senses, testing your imaginary threshold of torment. Watch the opening sequence to Eraserhead as Henry walks home and then listen to this.
The Amenta push Killing Joke’s Asteroid through their own version of a Nebula. While still showing ultimate respect for the groove of the song. The Amenta put knives through a violin in mesmerising fashion, turning the original’s synths on their head. Alice in Chain’s Angry Chair may be the riskiest move here, not many artists can showcase the bleak hopelessness that Layne and co poured out of themselves on their 1992 classic Dirt, but The Amenta succeed, adding an eery and menacing industrial edge to the track. Dirt was an inspiration for the band when creating Revelator, and for a while Angry Chair almost made it onto Revelator. Original track Plague of Locus rips the EP down the centre - another example of The Amenta firing on all cylinders, the band pushing themselves into the recesses of self torment and disgust.
Halo’s Rise is an industrial Godflesh stomp with juxtaposed off-kilter and uncomfortable passages, yet The Amenta load up on anthemic qualities, creating a lift your chin to the sky and pull your shoulders back at adversity moment. Nazxul is fronted by Dalibor, and their record Totem was released in 1995 through Vampire Records. It is vile, raw, heavy as balls and Dalibor sounds like he is channelling From Dusk Till Dawn. Totem is pure magic and The Amenta morph it into a cacophony of blinded men in a bath of acid. Drummer Dave Haley’s arms must be close to falling off during the white knuckle throttle sections. My Dying Bride’s Black God is the final track, from Turn Loose the Swans (1993), a perfect way to end proceedings, with a lurking, sinister, doomy vibe, The Amenta ditch the orchestration (piano and violin) in favour of moody electronics.
The human condition in it’s dark, twisted, filthy and inspirational best is on display here. Pick the damn little locusts from your face and immerse yourself in the plague that The Amenta have created here in 2023.