The Acacia Strain
The Acacia Strain | |
|---|---|
| Years active | 2001 – Present |
| Members | Vincent Bennett Jack Strong Daniel Daponde Daniel Laskiewicz Kevin Boutot |
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The Acacia Strain is a five-piece metalcore band from Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. The band is currently signed to Prosthetic Records. The band has been together since 2001 and has undergone countless member changes to become what they are today. The Acacia Strain has 3 studio albums. "...And Life Is Very Long" (Devil's Head - 2002), "3750" (Prosthetic, Devil's Head - 2004), and "The Dead Walk" (Prosthetic - 2006) as well as a split seven-inch record with then Devil's Head lablemates Loyal To The Grave in which they cover the song "Seasons In The Abyss" which was originally recorded by the band Slayer. The band works with producer Adam Dutkiewicz.
Biography
"There are so many people today who are afraid to take their own stance. So many people just float through life with no meaning. They have no opinions of their own, nothing is theirs," says vocalist Vincent Bennett. "Yet at the same time, there are so many people who are so self-righteous, it's sickening. The Dead Walk focuses on that."
With the band's new record, The Acacia Strain have proved its intense and unforgiving musical tonnage has not compromised the band's lyrical and aural integrity. The Dead Walk has The Acacia Strain making a social critique on the lull in cultural comfort, all the while displaying the band's brutal heaviness alongside an uncanny, mosh-worthy sense of rhythm. The result: some of contemporary metal's heaviest and hardest songs, without ever losing sight of the band's original goals.
"People say, 'Oh, The Acacia Strain is so tough or whatever,'" Bennett says. "Number one: We are the furthest thing from tough there is. Number two: We write the music we want to hear, and what we think kids will have the most fun with. We are trying to write heavy music. We love tech music, death metal, and hardcore, but we don't want to be those types of bands. We don't try to be something we aren't, bottom line."
Unconcerned with trends, and continually earning street credentials through constant touring, The Acacia Strain have surely upped the ante on The Dead Walk. This time around, the purveyors of all things heavy are tuning their guitars down further, allowing them to dig even deeper into the band's bowel-shaking, trademark sound they've been developing since 2002. In the time since the band released 3750, the Prosthetic Records debut from 2004, The Acacia Strain has dropped its provisional third guitar player, and in turn rotated in Seth Coleman and Kevin Boutot on bass and drums respectively, resulting in a sleeker, albeit more efficient band. "Seth and Kevin are two of the best things that happened to this band," Bennett says. "I honestly wouldn't want anyone else playing in this band. This is the most solid lineup we have ever had and I donít plan on it ever changing."
With a tight, stable line-up, The Dead Walk comes off as the band's most composed, confident effort yet, filled with Bennett's bestial bellows and a devastating one-two punch of swift riffs and chest-caving breaks. Thanks to the return of veteran producer Adam Dutkiewicz (Killswitch Engage, All That Remains), The Acacia Strain has not missed a beat in the next installment of the band's plans to traverse the realms of death metal, hardcore, and everything in-between. This mission is one that will be marked in success by the victims left in the wake of the band's unrelentingly heavy sound, city by city, venue by venue out on the road.
(Source: http://www.prostheticrecords.com/bands/the_acacia_strain/2.php)
Discography
Studio Albums
- ... And Life is Very Long - (2002)
- 3750 - (2004)
- The Dead Walk - (2006)
Other Releases
Videography
Band members
Current Lineup
- Vincent Bennett - Vocals
- Jack Strong - Bass
- Daniel Daponde - Guitar
- Daniel Laskiewicz - Guitar
- Kevin Boutot - Drums
Former members
- Ben Abert - Drums (2001-2004)
- Karrie Whitfield - Bass (Ex-Burn Your Wishes)
- John Preston - Bass (2003 and 2004)
- Jeanne Sagan - Bass (2003) (Currently in All That Remains)
- Christopher Daniele - Guitar (2002-2005)
- Mark Castillo - Drums (2004) (Temporary fill in from Bury Your Dead)
- Seth Coleman- Bass (2004-2006)
Trivia
-On the seven-inch release "When Angels Shed Their Wings", The Acacia Strain are listed as performing the song "Epidemic" when in fact they perform the song "Seasons in the Abyss".