Long Haired Locusts
Ramp Local, 2020
9/10
A Philadelphia 5 piece with a very atypical view of eccentric rock sounds, Godcaster recorded this debut album live to tape, where their uncontainable energy and thrashy ways were captured with plenty of rawness that’s never short on surprises.
“Even Your Blood Is Electric” starts the album with a busy display of lively rock that certainly borrows from the past with plenty of modern ideas, too, and “Apparition Of The Virgin Mary In My Neighborhood” continues the busy landscape with propulsive drumming and guitar acrobatics amid the art-punk.
At 14 tracks, the band cover much ground here, including the stomping fun of the cabaret rock on “Serpentine Carcass Crux Birth”, while the quick burst of fury that is “Christ In Capsule Form” brings melody to its experimental punk prowess. “Sexy Heffer”, one of the album’s best, then recruits jagged rhythm alongside exceptional flute in the controlled chaos that even brings in falsetto vocals.
Closer to the end, “The Skull!!!” is a speedy and frantic rocker, and “Outro” exits the listen with noisey swells as well as soft ebbs of beauty and grace.
A feral rock experience unlike anything else out there, Godcaster are prone to shrieks of ebullience just as they are moments of delicacy on this very unpredictable and distorted affair that might remind you of Frank Zappa or Primus, and doesn’t shy away from psychedelic, progressive or even funk sensibilities.
Travels well with: Palberta- Roach Goin’ Down; RVIVR- The Beauty Between