Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	91/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com
Allmusic
Artistdirect
BBC Music	highly favourable
Blabbermouth.net	9.0/10
Blistering	8/10
CraveOnline	8.5/10
Decibel
The Guardian
Metal Hammer	10/10
Pitchfork Media	7.7/10
Revolver	4.5/5

Unto the Locust is the seventh full-length studio album by American groove metal band Machine Head, released in Australia on September 23, in the UK on September 26 and worldwide on September 27, 2011. The album was produced and mixed by Robb Flynn, and it was the band's highest charting album ever, charting at 22 on the Billboard 200, until their following release Bloodstone & Diamonds charted at 21. Unto the Locust was recorded in Green Day's Jingletown Studios. On June 14, 2011, Machine Head released the advance mix of their album track Locust, which was included on the 2011 Mayhem Festival iTunes sampler. This would be Machine Head's last studio album with co-founder and bassist Adam Duce before he was fired due to "ongoing differences" with the band on February 11, 2013. It has sold over 100,000 copies in the United States. At just under 49 minutes long it is the band's shortest album released to date.

The first single from Unto the Locust, simply titled "Locust", was released on June 10, 2011. Side A begins with the song ‘Locust’ and Side B contains the two live tracks ‘Beautiful Mourning’ from The Blackening and ‘Bite the Bullet’ from Through the Ashes of Empires.

Sloat stated about the "Locust" clip:

We shot the band on green screen in Philadelphia on August 1st, 2011. It was on a 'off' date from the [Rockstar Energy Drink] Mayhem Festival. There's well over 600 shots in the video, all of which have varying levels of CG effects, and ended up taking over two months to complete. [It is] easily the BIGGEST music video I've ever done. With so many CG shots, we had to divide the work among several CG FX people and editors. Once the shots came back, I would edit them in and start the color effects and any last minute tweaks I wanted to add.

The UK version of Metal Hammer magazine have announced that a special edition fan-pack would be released by the magazine with a 132-page special issue with exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the making of the album, extensive interviews with every member, historic shots from the band's personal collections, a guide to their custom rigs, and a diary of their massive Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival tour. Metal Hammer also gave away a special edition vinyl with their November 2011 issue containing the song Locust with alternate lyrics on the A-Side and Beautiful Mourning and Bite the Bullet (both live) on the B-Side.

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