The Acacia Strain

The Acacia Strain is an American metalcore band from Chicopee, Massachusetts formed in 2001. The band has gone through several lineup changes and vocalist Vincent Bennett is the only current original member. The Acacia Strain is currently signed to Rise Records.^[1]

History

Originally founded in 2001, the band itself has undergone numerous changes in the member line-up.^[2] To date they have released seven studio albums, as well as two split albums: one with Loyal to the Grave (on which they covered the Slayer song "Seasons in the Abyss"^[1][2]) and another with This or the Apocalypse, War from a Harlots Mouth, Fact, and Aggressive Dogs. The band has worked with acclaimed producers Adam Dutkiewicz^[3] and Chris "Zeuss" Harris.^[4]

In December 2009, The Acacia Strain toured as direct support for Hatebreed as part of the Stillborn Fest alongside Crowbar, The Casualties, and Thy Will Be Done.

The band released their DVD, The Most Known Unknown, on February 16, 2010.^[5] The band reached the Billboard Top 200 albums chart in 2008 with Continent and 2010 with Wormwood.^[6]

They performed at Warped Tour 2011 on the Advent Clothing stage along with We Came As Romans, Set Your Goals, Winds of Plague, Miss May I, and others.

In April 17, 2012, it was announced that The Acacia Strain had signed to Rise Records, announcing plans for a new album in October 2012.

On April 25, 2012, a new song, titled "Servant in the Place of Truth", was released digitally, and at the time was also in anticipation of their upcoming album, which will be released in the fall.

On July 18, 2012, The Acacia Strain announced the title of their new upcoming album, Death Is the Only Mortal. It was released on October 9, 2012.^[7]

On August 10, 2012, The band announced the track listing for Death Is the Only Mortal and released the album art via their Facebook page.^[8] However, the single "Servant in the Place of Truth" is not listed on the album. Guitarist Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz later confirmed that it was just a non-album single.

On September 6, 2012, an official single off "Death Is the Only Mortal" was released titled "Victims of the Cave" as a lyric video on Rise Records' YouTube channel.^[9]

In November 2012 The band performed at the U.K. Van's Warped Tour as well as supporting Architects on the U.K leg of the "Daybreaker 'Almost' World Tour".

On November 27, 2012, The Acacia Strain was involved in a rollover accident, which prevented them from touring with Veil of Maya thereafter.^[10]

On May 18, 2013, Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz announced via his Facebook page that The Acacia Strain had moved on without him and that he was no longer a part of the band.^[11]

On June 4, 2013, the band announced that they had introduced two new full-time guitarists to join their line-up, Devin Shidaker (formerly of Oceano) and Richard Gomez (formerly of Molotov Solution).^[12]

On August 12, the band revealed the upcoming title of the album to be Coma Witch, which is set for release on October 14. The band also released the music video for the first single of the album, "Cauterizer".^[13]

On May 23, 2015, The Acacia Strain announced on their Facebook page that they will appear on The Summer Slaughter Tour 2015, and that their bassist Jack Strong is stepping down and will be replaced by their friend Griffin Landa.^[14]

Musical style and themes

AllMusic characterizes the band's musical style as "utiliz[ing] a bone-crushing rhythm section, apocalyptic samples, and a unique triple-guitar assault to deliver their signature blend of hardcore punk, noise, death metal and doom metal."^[15] The site's review of Wormwood elaborates on the band's sound as "an inelegant and unstoppable juggernaut fueled by memories of the unchecked aggression unleashed on the world by the likes of Sepultura and Pantera."^[16]

The band's former bassist, Jack Strong, describes their music as "hardcore-influenced metal",^[17] while lead vocalist Vincent Bennett has rejected the deathcore label, going on record to say that "deathcore is the new nu-metal. [...] It sucks. And if anyone calls us 'deathcore' then I might do something very bad to them."^[18]

Written by lead vocalist Vincent Bennett, the band's lyrics generally center around misanthropy^[19] and nihilism.^[20] Bennett employs misogynistic and sexually deviant imagery in his lyrics, but usually only as metaphors to help get his points across while keeping the songs' overall meanings open for interpretation.^[19][20][21]

Musical inspirations for the band include acts such as Down, Bad Religion, Black Flag, Sleep, Sick of it All, Madball, Minor Threat, Agnostic Front, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, At The Gates, Pantera, Sepultura, The Black Dahlia Murder, Motörhead, Slayer, Exodus, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Alice in Chains, Cattle Decapitation, Anal Cunt & Despised Icon.

Members

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

• Money for Nothing (2013)
• Above/Below (2013)
• The Depression Sessions with Thy Art Is Murder and Fit for an Autopsy (2016)

Singles

• "Servant In the Place of Truth" (2012)

Demos

• 2001 Demo (2001)

DVDs

• The Most Known Unknown (2010)

Videography

• "Smoke Ya Later" (2004)
• "3750" (2005)
• "Angry Mob Justice" (2006)
• "Skynet" (2009)
• "The Hills Have Eyes" (2010)
• "The Impaler" (2011)
• "Cauterizer" (2014)
• "Send Help" (2015)

Concert Tours

• To Catch a Predatour- The Acacia Strain, The Red Chord, Terror, Gaza, The Contortionist
• Sweat Fest 2008- Parkway Drive, A Day to Remember, Suicide Silence, The Acacia Strain, Confession
• Crashing Through the Holidays- The Acacia Strain, Despised Icon, Full Blown Chaos, The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza
• God Damn Tour- The Acacia Strain, Terror, Stray from the Path, Harms Way
• Australian 2011 Tour- Every Time I Die, The Acacia Strain, The Word Alive
• The Cool Tour- As I Lay Dying, Underoath, Between the Buried and Me, Blessthefall, The Acacia Strain, Architects, Cancer Bats, War of Ages
• Warped Tour 2011
• Welcome to Hell Tour- Whitechapel, Veil of Maya, The Acacia Strain, Chelsea Grin, I Declare War
• UK 2012 Tour- Architects, Deez Nuts, Bury Tomorrow, The Acacia Strain
• Scream it Like you Mean It 2012- Attack Attack, We Came as Romans, The Acacia Strain, Abandon All Ships, Oceano, Impending Doom, Close to Home, The Chariot, Texas in July, For All Those Sleeping, Volumes, Secrets, Hands like Houses, Glass Cloud, At the Skylines
• Death is the only Mortal Tour- The Acacia Strain, Cruel Hand, I Declare War, Fit For an Autopsy, No Bragging Rights
• All in Merch Tour- The Acacia Strain, Veil of Maya, Upon a Burning Body, Volumes, Twitch No Tounges
• Resolution CD Release Tour- Lamb of God, The Acacia Strain, Too Late The Hero
• Hell on Earth- Unearth, Shadows Fall, The Acacia Strain, War of Ages, Pay No Respect
• No Way Out Tour- The Acacia Strain, Within The Ruins, Xibalba, Fit For An Autopsy, American Me
• The Divinity of Purpose 2013- Hatebreed, Shadows Fall, The Acacia Strain, Battlecross
• Spring 2013 USA Tour-Every Time I Die, The Acacia Strain, Vanna, Hundredth
• All-Stars Tour 2014- I See Stars, The Acacia Strain, Like Moths to Flames, Slaves, Mutrix, Betraying the Martyrs, Palisades, Sworn In, Upon this Dawning, Kublai Khan, Sylar, Handed to the Thousands
• Mini Tour- The Acacia Strain, The Plot in You, Cane Hill
• Emmure vs The Acacia Strain- Emmure, The Acacia Strain, Fit For A King, Kublai Khan, Sylar
• Out of Control Tour- The Ghost Inside, The Acacia Strain, Gideon, In Hearts Wake
• Summer Slaughter 2015- Arch Enemy, Born of Osiris, Veil of Maya, The Acacia Strain, Cattle Decapitation, Beyond Creation
• Tune Low, Die Slow- The Acacia Strain, Counterparts, Fit For an Autopsy, Kublai Khan
• Metal Alliance Tour- Dying Fetus, The Acacia Strain, Jungle Rot, Black Crown Initiate
• Common Vision Tour- The Acacia Strain, Oceano, Knocked Loose, To the Wind, Culture Killer

References

External links

• Official website