The Acacia Strain - Continent
Rating
RIYL
EmmureRecon
Life Ruiner
Label
Prosthetic RecordsTracklist
1. Skynet2. Seaward
3. Dr. Doom
4. Forget-Me-Now
5. Cthulhu
6. Baby Buster
7. Balboa Towers
8. JFC
9. Kraken
10. The Combine
11. The Behemoth
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It was two years ago when I last spoke about The Acacia Strain. If you remember my review for their previous record, The Dead Walk, you will know that I abhor this band, or at least used to. Cliché, intimidating lyrics, tritone breakdowns – one after another after another, and a snare drum that sounded like a goddamn pillow. Yeah, I really, really, did not like The Dead Walk. It took me way too long to get into this band, but long story short, I realized that you mustn’t take The Acacia Strain as seriously as I did. Although there is indeed hatred behind the group’s lyrics, I didn’t realize how fun it could be listening to such an angry-as-all-hell record. Continent, the band’s latest album, is, believe it or not, much angrier and even better than you may expect.
There is small growth from The Dead Walk to Continent, but the band thankfully hasn’t gone stale and changed from doing what they do best. What does The Acacia Strain do best, you ask? Okay, we already know that no one would ever ask that. It’s quite simple that this band writes and performs destructively heavy breakdowns better than any other mosh hardcore band that tries to rip them off. Not only do they devastate your headphones with crushing breakdowns, but guitarist DL has undoubtedly become a mastermind behind over tracking several different layers of strings over the top of the tritone goodness that they trademark.
The best example for the use of clever guitar layering is in track 5, “Cthulhu”. Several of the heavier parts of this song have eerie chords performed over them and really make you wonder how DL pulls stuff like this off when the band is performing the song live. Note that he is the only guitarist in the band and at times he’s layering three tracks at once over crushing tones. This is a trait he’s been doing well since the previous record, and it’s still keeping this band untouched by other imitators.
One thing that has changed from The Dead Walk is vocalist Vincent Bennett’s voice. On the last record, he seemed to have a tad more range and threw in a few humorous aspects to his voice. On Continent, Vincent delivers a deeper, more throaty, and angrier roar throughout the album, and although some may miss his previous vocal style, his grittier, more pissed off growls fit the misanthropy that ensues on the CD. The lyrics on Continent are straight up damaging, and the music in the last half of the album accompany them so disturbingly well being that they are clearly about the destruction of mankind. Unless you’re listening to Meshuggah’s, obZen, you won’t hear many songs as heavy musically and lyrically this year as The Acacia Strain’s “JFC”.
In all, Continent is The Dead Walk’s beefier, more pissed off brother, and I wouldn’t recommend messing with him. This is by far the heaviest hardcore album of the year with songs like “Seaward”, “Balboa Towers”, “JFC” and “Kraken”. The band has proved they can still write bone crushing music, while inviting in new sounds and styles to their heavy sounds, like in “The Combine” and the triumphant and disturbing closing instrumental, “The Behemoth.” The band has improved in basically every category and they finally put out an album with great production values (I can’t express my hatred for the drum sound on The Dead Walk enough). Since fans will most likely compare and contrast Continent with The Dead Walk for the next two years until another record comes out, here are some simple and informative stats comparing the two albums for you:
The Deadwalk:
Breakdowns: 51
Two Steps: 11
Times Vincent Curses: 16
Continent:
Breakdowns: 65
Two Steps: 18
Times Vincent Curses: 43
--Chris Pandolfo
Comments
Minnesota
Find me EVERYWHERE:
raleigh
JMU
Minnesota
Agree 110%.
Find me EVERYWHERE:
-Dave
PA
The whole curse tally especially is a joke. I was listening to the CD and realized how many times he actually does use profanities and I thought it'd be funny to add that in.
Music Blog.
Depths blog. (my band)
Fishers, Indiana
Top Albums: 2011 | 2010 | 2009 || Tumblr | Twitter
SCV, CA
Infinitely Inwards
Ever Forthright - Ever Forthright
Fallujah - The Harvest Wombs
The New Law - The Fifty Year Storm
The Mars Volta - Noqtourniqet
Aborted - Global Flatline
Spawn of Possession - Incurso
Crippled Black Phoenix - (Mankind)The Crafty Ape
Toronto
Infinitely Inwards
you,sir, have set your musical standards even higher than I, and I have all but destroyed my enjoyment of simple music....Seriously though, this album isn't nearly as good as I initially thought. When I first got it I enjoyed the brutality and simple, little guitar leads. After multiple listens, though, I found that it has almost no staying power. I wish they would have evolved the sound from their last album; instead, they were satisfied with less than mediocrity. Other than the fact that it sometimes sounds a little ominous and powerful, I tend to lean towards Logan's statement.
Ever Forthright - Ever Forthright
Fallujah - The Harvest Wombs
The New Law - The Fifty Year Storm
The Mars Volta - Noqtourniqet
Aborted - Global Flatline
Spawn of Possession - Incurso
Crippled Black Phoenix - (Mankind)The Crafty Ape
Boca Raton,FL
PA
You're funny. I hope you REALLY like Underoath, too.
Music Blog.
Depths blog. (my band)
Toronto
hah. It's funny because I reviewed this album for another magazine and gave it a decent rating cause it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. However, after listening to a few songs after I realized that I made a bad choice giving it a decent rating haha. I immediately deleted it and haven't wanted to hear it since. It sucks.
It's blowin' cool outside today...
PA
Music Blog.
Depths blog. (my band)
Toronto
San Diego, CA
Dubuque
Also, just read all of the comments in that blog post. We love the haters too.
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Toronto
PA
Music Blog.
Depths blog. (my band)