Review of The Acacia Strain - 3750

According to the Oxford Dictionary:

heav•y P Pronunciation Key (h v )
adj. heav•i•er, heav•i•est
1. Having relatively great weight: a heavy load.
2. Having relatively high density; having a high specific gravity.
3. Having great power or force: a heavy punch.
4. Violent; rough: heavy seas.
Or
heav i•ness n.
Synonyms: heavy, weighty, hefty, massive, ponderous, cumbersome
These adjectives mean having a relatively great weight. Heavy refers to what has great physical weight (a heavy boulder) and figuratively to what is burdensome or oppressive to the spirit (heavy responsibilities). Hefty refers principally to physical heaviness or brawniness: a hefty book; a tall, hefty wrestler. Massive describes what is bulky, heavy, solid, and strong: massive marble columns. Ponderous refers to what has great mass and weight and usually implies unwieldiness: ponderous prehistoric beasts.

Or

The Acacia Strain

Don’t believe me? Just wait 13 second into opening track “Carbomb” and listen for your self. Trust me it’s not pretty, and your speakers will hate you for it. While not purveying anything remotely original in the hardcore/metalcore genre, the three pronged guitar attack, utterly devastating production and monstrous, lumbering pace give The Acacia Strain enough merit to rub shoulders with the likes of Remembering Never, Built Upon Frustration, Nehemiah, Children of Gaia and Redline, and frankly at their heaviest, blow the aforementioned acts away. Most of you will certainly roll your eyes at the prospect of yet another rumbling metalcore acts, but truth be told, for sheer weighty girth and sonic beef, the low end quakes of The Acacia Strain put out among the heaviest moments of music I've experienced--in any genre. Really.

Produced by Killswitch Engage’s Adam D, the delivery of The Acacia Strain’s often simplistic riffs is a exercise in low end, Richter scale shaking over technical overindulgence, that while by the album’s end seems over done, and leaves you with a headache. To be honest, above and beyond the massive grooves, there’s not that much to offer as their traditional European inspired harmonies, even when played with three guitars, are little to write home about, but thankfully, The Acacia Strain basically stick with the utter devastation of tracks like the immeasurably potent “Smoke Ya Later”, “Passing the Pencil Test” and mammoth start to “Brown Noise”. Rare, attempts to inject triple harmonies are solid if rudimentary as heard on cliché ripened acoustic track “Halcyon”, “Drawn and Quartered” and the needlessly drawn out climax “Sun Poison and Skin Cancer”. The heavily distorted vocals also tread familiar territory with an angered mid-range roar and a guttural growl, but they do complement the sheer immensity of the music.

Granted, there’s not much to lure a new listener sick of the genre into The Acacia Strain’s sound, but it is free from emotional histrionics and overindulgent technical narcissism, instead rending a simplistic, barbaric and primal sound that just plain …well, heavy.

BTW you might want to turn your bass down when you first play this-your neighborhood will appreciate it.

Release Details

The Acacia Strain

3750

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