It's a relatively cool night for May and the peaceful silence of
a small Massachusetts town is shattered. Although it is not
overbearingly loud, keen ears perk up as the members of THE
ACACIA STRAIN turn their collective head towards the building.
Production mastermind Zeuss (Shadows Fall, Hatebreed) is inside,
dialing in the sounds at Studio Z during the band s first
excursion with the aural expert.
Then again, we are talking about THE ACACIA STRAIN, Springfield,
Massachusetts' heaviest band, returning with their latest
offering: Continent. The name alone implores and implies
something massive and demanding, exactly what this album is.
"This album is definitely darker than anything we have done in
the past. It's more proper, if that is even possible. It is our
most angry release to date" says vocalist Vincent Bennett, with
an ever so slight emphasis on the word angry. From the social
critique on the lull of cultural comfort, the deep-rooted
resentment that festers inside has darkened. "Continent is
basically my absolute disgust towards everything. The whole album
is based on the concept of nihilism. The world as we know it was
a fluke and there is no meaning in anything. It is about pulling
yourself out of society because everything makes you . It is
about purposefully leaving everything behind and destroying
everything you think you love. It is about hatred, anger, rage
and resentment. Nothing is sure to me anymore. Everything has
been tainted. This album is pretty much exonerating myself from
it all."
The band s sound is undeniably darker on Continent, yet THE
ACACIA STRAIN manages still to likewise hold true to the band s
established identity, retaining its signature sound while still
combining more speed, brutality, and more atypical song
construction. That said, THE ACACIA STRAIN has effectively
established themselves at the front of a pack of ever-expanding
and equally evolving extreme music contenders.
We write music that we like playing, Bennett continues. Too many
people in bands lately have just been putting out records and
playing shows so they can BE in a band and be popular. There is
no passion anymore; it s all an internet popularity contest. We
write the music we do because we like playing it, and if people
are into it then that's an amazing bonus. There are so many
useless arguments on the internet about what kind of band is
metal or metalcore or deathcore or hardcore or whatever. Shut up.
Listen to music. The minute you try to define it is the exact
moment it loses all of its actual meaning.
Undeniably, meaning is something high on the band s list for the
release of Continent, the third release for Prosthetic and fourth
overall for THE ACACIA STRAIN. Tying lyrics and music with visual
interpretation once again is artist Paul Romano, uniting
Continent s theme of nihilism and misanthropy with the album s
visually stunning mural of destruction. Now, with the band s
line-up stable, rounded out by guitarist DL, bassist Jack Strong
and drummer Kevin Boutot, THE ACACIA STRAIN is poised to continue
down the road of growth and progression, something they have been
doing since The Dead Walk s release in 2006. Proving their power
on the road time and time again and leveraging their sonic
devastation in cities across the US and Canada, 2008 shall be no
different for THE ACACIA STRAIN. The only difference is Continent
will be the end of everything.