Tag Archive: The Acacia Strain

Holy Catastrophies, Batman.

Nov.04, 2011

Despite my sort of flippant headline, the last 24 hours has been nuts, and not in a good way. First we got word of the tragic passing of GWAR guitarist Corey Smoot. The fates aren’t smiling on us right now apparently, as it doesn’t end there.

Polish death metal band Decapitated survived an emergency plane crash on their way back from their US headlining tour. Decapitated are no strangers to disaster, as a van crash in 2007 killed drummer Vitek and put vocalist Covan into a coma. Obviously, everyone is relieved to find out that everyone that was on the plane made it out just fine. I’d imagine the band are a bit shaken up, as they’ve cancelled two upcoming festival appearances.

Then today, Stray From The Path were in a traffic accident and flipped their van. From Sumerian Records’ facebook:

Stray From The Path have reportedly flipped their van in Wyoming while on tour with The Acacia Strain and Terror. The band is fine however their van, trailer and gear all look to be completely destroyed. We will give you more news and updates as soon as we hear. Please keep the band in your thoughts. Stay tuned for more information regarding the accident.

Ouch, that’s a massive hit to a small touring band like SFTP, who will have a hard time recouping the costs for transportation and gear. Hopefully they can get back on their feet and we’re all relieved they’re fine as well.

Hopefully this string of bad luck turns around. There are plenty of tours left in these final months of the year. Everyone out there, stay safe!

- JR

Tags: Decapitated, Gwar, Stray From The Path, Terror, The Acacia Strain

The Acacia Strain Debut Music Video For “The Impaler”

Filed Under: General News, Video

Jul.06, 2011

If Heavy Blog is on your daily routine of websites to visit, you probably already know we aren’t very fond of deathcore. We tend to rip those bands to shreds and for good reason: it’s generally lifeless, processed bullshit. But there’s one band a few of us here love and that’s The Acacia Strain. Perhaps it’s Vincent’s monolithic vocals, the giant sound or their general atmosphere evoking complete destruction. I can’t put my finger on it. I should theoretically hate them, but it’s the exact opposite. Wormwood only further proved this strange double standard, although at first I was very disappointed in the album. It felt a lot more generic, especially with them jumping on the 8-string bandwagon. Now, though, I love it. Perhaps more than Continent.

So here we are with the music video for “The Impaler” and much like my original Wormwood impression, I’m disappointed. They abandoned the humor found in their previous videos for something that seems more… plain. It’s not bad by any means, but I was hoping for another joke video. Check it out here:

You can catch The Acacia Strain on Warped Tour, but I’d call you fucking nuts for going to it. So many horrible bands it hurts.

-MK

Tags: The Acacia Strain, warped tour

Free Homefront Covers Album Featuring Dillinger, Periphery, IWABO, AGATG, and More!

Filed Under: Downloads, New music

Mar.22, 2011

Check out this unlikely collection of cover songs released in promotion for the video game Homefront. It’s limited to 25,000 digital copies, so act fast!

As I Lay Dying – “War Ensemble” (Slayer cover)
The Dillinger Escape Plan – “Fight The Power” (feat. Chuck D.) (Public Enemy cover)
iwrestledabearonce – “Uprising” (Muse cover)
The Acacia Strain – “War Pigs” (Black Sabbath cover)
Periphery – “One” (Metallica cover)
The Ghost Inside – “Fortunate Son” (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover)
Winds Of Plague – “For What It’s Worth” (Buffalo Springfield cover)
Misery Signals – “Us And Them” (Pink Floyd cover)
Arsonists Get All The Girls – “Masters Of War” (Bob Dylan cover)
Oceano – “War” (Edwin Starr cover)
Veil Of Maya – “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (U2 cover)

Periphery covering Metallica? AGATG covering Bob Dylan? IWABO covering Muse? What’s happening to my world? Get it via the widget below”

- JR

Yes, The Contortionist Are Just As Good Live

Filed Under: Live, Tours and Rumors of Tours

Nov.17, 2010

Maybe even better, actually. If you’ve been keeping up with the site then you know that I recently attended the To Catch A Predatour featuring The Contortionist, Gaza, The Red Chord, Terror, and The Acacia Strain. All of the bands put on a good show, but the highlight for me was without a doubt when The Contortionist came on stage. They opened up with Primal Directive, the opening track from Exoplanet, and then they continued to play only tracks from their most recent effort for the rest of the set. No complaints here about that, seeing as how Exoplanet is one of the best albums to come out in the past year, in my book.

The band played flawlessly through all of the set, but sadly the crowd as a whole didn’t really seem to be that into it. That wasn’t really surprising though, I’m pretty sure most of them were only there for the brodowns and hardcore dancing…Anyways, after The Contortionist’s set I was able to meet each member of the band and they all seemed like very nice and down to earth guys when I talked to them which was really cool. Best live show I’ve seen in a while, and afterwords I found myself very inspired as a musician. So check them out if you haven’t already, and if they ever come anywhere close to you, do not miss the chance to see them live and support them!

-PM

Tags: exoplanet, gaza, Terror, The Acacia Strain, The Contortionist, The Red Chord, to catch a predatour

Got Any Questions For The Red Chord?!

Filed Under: Interviews, Live, Tours and Rumors of Tours

Nov.01, 2010

So I’ve had my eye on the To Catch A Predatour for a while, mainly because I love The Contortionist and I would love the opportunity to watch them perform. Not that it wouldn’t be awesome getting to watch most of the other bands play too, and The Red Chord are pretty high up on my list as far as deathcore goes. I just recently found out though that in addition to the great show, I’m going to be able to do a video interview The Red Chord vocalist Guy Kozowyk! Talk about awesome. I’m going to the Nov. 3rd date in Winston-Salem, and that’s only a couple of days away so it’s pretty short notice, and this will be my first time doing anything like this so lets hope I don’t screw it up too bad! If you guys have any questions you want me to throw at him, post them here and I’ll include them in the interview!

-PM

Tags: deathcore, gaza, Terror, The Acacia Strain, The Contortionist, The Red Chord, tours, video interview

The Acacia Strain Debut New Music Video

Filed Under: lolwut, Video

Sep.01, 2010

The Acacia Strain just posted a new music video for their song “The Hills Have Eyes” off their latest release, Wormwood.

And it’s hilarious.

You didn’t expect them to make a serious music video, did you? Check it out. Maybe you’ll laugh/chuckle as much as I did. Bonus points to The Acacia Strain for making a music video out of one of the good songs on that album.

Wormwood is in stores now. Don’t forget to read my review to see what I thought.

-MK

Tags: deathcore, The Acacia Strain, Wormwood

Pointless Rambling Filler Content

Filed Under: Editorials, RAGE

Jul.22, 2010

My response to anyone getting butthurt over musical differences

Inspired by the inane ramblings of fanboys when their favorite band is under scrutiny. Everyone just needs to relax, take a deep breath and realize not everyone is out to laugh at your musical taste or bash bands simply for the sake of it. In fact, and I know this may come as a shock to many people, not everyone has the same musical taste!

Now, I like to consider myself well-informed of the internet and its happenings. Not only this, but its nature as well. I realize anyone can be an obnoxious troll, or that 12-year-olds can get their hands on a forum and make absurd and invalid fanboy arguments (see Xbox Republic), but I’ve come to wonder: is it just me or is everyone getting more uptight and angsty about a certain band not having 100% approval? Go on Last.FM, make a negative statement about a band or album and watch as the brigade of butthurt tremors the Earth in fury as they destroy the shoutbox with “fag”, “you’re retarded” and “you like x band so your opinion doesn’t matter.” In retrospect, everyone has musical differences. Bob may like T-Pain and Cannibal Corpse, but he may dislike Atheist and Death. Is it really that big of a deal? Is everyone suddenly fucking retarded? There’s a difference between making erroneous statements and having an opinion. Calling Cryptopsy crunkcore is a flatout lie, but not liking Cryptopsy‘s older work and enjoying their new stuff does not make a person ignorant, “untrue” or even stupid. The stigma of certain genres and bands is disgusting. Not everyone who likes Korn is an angst-ridden teenager nor is everyone who likes death metal weird and socially inept. But I’ll save that for another rant.

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Tags: Atheist, Cannibal Corpse, deal with it, death, Korn, rant, T-Pain, The Acacia Strain

The Acacia Strain – Wormwood

Filed Under: Reviews

Jul.21, 2010

The Acacia Strain

Wormwood

01. Beast
02. The Hills Have Eyes
03. BTM FDR
04. Ramirez
05. Terminated
06. Nightman
07. The Impaler
08. Jonestown
09. Bay of Pigs
10. The Carpathian
11. Unabomber
12. Tactical Nuke

Well… Wormwood. Where to even start? It’s hard to put my thoughts into words after what a letdown this album is. The Acacia Strain may be the only breakdown-centric band that I enjoy (hell, I even own a physical copy of Continent), but what Wormwood has bestowed upon the world is something sub par.

I suppose the best way to start would be to list the things I do like. For one, the production is pretty good. The triggers are a little ‘bouncy’, but as a whole everything is much crisper and evokes the dread feeling they were going for. I also like Vincent’s more diaphragm-heavy vocals. His lyrics, while totally abysmal (“Time to suck today’s dick, I hope you choke on it”) and a complete step down from Continent, are clearer which leads to some memorable moments (“Bay of Pigs”). After that, well, there isn’t much else I like. There are so many problems here. I love djent, but going 8-string here grinds every last nerve of mine. The guitar is extremely downtuned and all the “jun jun jun” gets old when you pair it with the breakdown-to-breakdown song structure. Wormwood = a boring breakdownfest with too much djent. There you have it guys. Review is over. No need to go on.

…if only that was the case.

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Tags: Emmure, hatebreed, Jamey Jasta, Meshuggah, The Acacia Strain

Wormwood: My Thoughts So Far

Filed Under: Editorials, Upcoming releases

Jul.02, 2010

I have been given the grace of hearing a sampler from The Acacia Strain‘s Wormwood which contained 3 tracks: “Jonestown“, “The Hills Have Eyes” and “Terminated” all finalized and produced. Album versions, if you will. After hearing “Jonestown” off their MySpace a while back, I was impressed, so I had high expectations of the other two. What I did hear, though, shocked the hell out of me. The apocalyptic undertones of Continent are much more present here on both tracks, adding a truckload of sinister sounds that contribute to the already-demonic atmosphere. If that wasn’t enough, they seemed to have joined the recent trend of going with 8-stringed guitars. The low-end sound is amplified times a thousand because of this, adding layers upon layers of thickness that drives me nuts (in a good way). The Acacia Strain manage to somehow be fast (at times) yet maintain a slow, chugging tempo that feels like the end of the world is coming in slow motion. Vocalist Vincent Bennett only emphasizes this, with his throaty vox droning on over the slow passages. There is also some sexy punk-influenced drumming here and there, but it’s second-rate to how amazing of an atmosphere they seemed to have established. I despise the term brutal, but damnit that’s what it is. Just imagine dropping a slab of concrete on a puppy. Just imagine driving your car into an 18 wheeler at 100 MPH. Just imagine being punched in the face by Rambo. Actually, just imagine The Acacia Strain.

There are demos out there of “The Hills Have Eyes” and “Terminated“, but they do not do justice for these finalized versions. Seriously, if this is the mood of the whole album, I can see Wormwood being one behemoth of a release and easily becoming the best in their discography.

Wormwood. July 20th. Prosthetic Records. Fucking get it.

-MK

Tags: deathcore, Prosthetic Records, The Acacia Strain, Wormwood

New Name And Art Revealed For The New Acacia Strain Album

Filed Under: New music, Upcoming releases, Video

Jun.07, 2010

The Acacia Strain unleashed a new video earlier, giving details on the name and album art of their fifth upcoming full-length which you can see below.

Wormwood? Chances are you’re as confused as I am at the name and art choices. I don’t particularly think they’re bad, it just doesn’t seem to “click” with me. Maybe I’m over thinking this, I guess I’ll find out when Wormwood comes out July 20th on Prosthetic Records.

Tags: album, art, The Acacia Strain, title