### Pray For Locust: Swarm

#### 23/09/10 || Altmer

Ok, the band describes themselves as inheritors of Pantera, Lamb of God, Slayer and The Haunted. All I can say is that I don’t see, or more appropriately hear, this. I hear metalcore. I hear generic riffs. I hear bad vocals. In fact, I hear a lot of things that make me want to turn this bullshit off right now. It’s not the first time that I get the shifty job of covering crappola frappola metal, and it won’t be the last – but rest assured this bunch will get the same treatment as the rest of ‘em.

Which means I have to actually listen to this album, fucking hell.

Ok, so the first thing I notice: these guys are from Sweden, which should incur you a quality stamp generally, since it’s generally accepted that Sweden is one of the best exporters of metal out there. They have some of the most popular metal bands of the moment (Opeth, In Flames) and some of the lesser known but amazing bands of the moment (Torture Division, Watain, Cult of Luna, etc). These guys clearly want to be in the league of In Flames, but, newsflash: they are fucken not in that league whatsoever. They sound distinctly Swedish, forsaking the American slick production for a slightly rawer and more Gothenburg-ish edge, occasionally drifting into territory that modern In Flames calls home.

The second thing I notice is that the vocalist needs to take a nice lesson in either singing or shutting the fuck up because he isn’t particularly good at either of them. (Yes, dear readers, that is British understatement – he is fucken awful). He basically single-handedly ruins all these songs with his shit metalcore yelping over the music and the occasional hooks you may encounter are stomped on by his vocal nonsense. Seriously, if you can’t sing…

There isn’t much else of note to speak about. Occasionally they sound like In Flames or Soilwork, then they rip a few Slayer riffs, then they throw in some shit pinch harmonics to sound aggressive… this is year 2010 metal for the kids. Me, I’m out of here and I’m going to listen to my Slayer records. I have no need for this subpar metal. It may not be the worst thing I’ve ever heard, but there’s no need for it and we could all do with something good instead.

Recommendation: Donate all your money to charity. You might be of some use then.

- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Supernova Records
- Website: Pray For Locust MySpace
- Band
- Tintin (yes the Belgian comic book hero) Andersen: vocals
- Stefan Schyverg: guitars
- Jerry Engstrom: guitars
- Kvasi: bass
- Simon Corner: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Hang a traitor
- 02. Parasites
- 03. The tears and the blood
- 04. If I had no time left
- 05. Let them bleed
- 06. A mother’s love
- 07. Jane Doe
- 08. My side of suicide
- 09. The living dead
- 10. Shiva