The Acacia Strain

The Acacia Strain
The Acacia Strain live in Saarbrücken in 2010
Background information
Origin	Chicopee, Massachusetts, United States
Genres	Deathcore, metalcore
Years active	2001—present
Labels	Rise, Prosthetic, Devil's Head
Website	theacaciastrain.com
Members	Vincent Bennett Kevin Boutot Devin Shidaker Rich Gomez Griffin Landa
Past members	Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz Christopher Daniele Daniel Daponde Karrie Whitfield Jeanne Sagan Seth Coleman Ben Abert Mark Castillo David Sroka Mike Casavant Jack Strong

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 Rich 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]

Band members

Current members Vincent Bennett – lead vocals (2001–present) Kevin Boutot – drums, percussion (2005–present) Devin Shidaker – guitars, backing vocals (2013–present) Rich Gomez – guitars (2013–present) Griffin Landa – bass (2015–present)

Former members Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz – guitars (2001–2013) Daniel Daponde – guitars, backing vocals (2001–2006) Christopher Daniele – guitars (2001–2005) Ben Abert – drums, percussion (2001–2004) Karrie Whitfield – bass (2001–2003) Jeanne Sagan – bass (2003) Seth Coleman – bass (2004–2006) Jack Strong – bass (2006–2015)

Touring musicians Mark Castillo – drums, percussion (2004–2005) David Sroka – guitars (2009) Mike Casavant – guitars (2009–2010) Tim Cavallari – guitars (2010–2012) Tony Diaz – guitars (2010–2012)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US [22]	US Heat. [23]	US Indie. [24]	US Rock [25]	US Hard Rock [26]
...And Life Is Very Long	Released: September 2, 2002 Label: Devil's Head Formats: CD, digital download	—	—	—	—	—
3750	Released: July 13, 2004 Label: Devil's Head, Prosthetic Formats: CD, digital download	—	—	—	—	—
The Dead Walk	Released: June 13, 2006 Label: Prosthetic Formats: CD, digital download	—	40	47	—	—
Continent	Released: August 19, 2008 Label: Prosthetic Formats: CD, digital download	107	2	13	—	18
Wormwood	Released: July 20, 2010 Label: Prosthetic Formats: CD, digital download	67	—	6	21	8
Death Is the Only Mortal	Released: October 9, 2012 Label: Rise Formats: CD, digital download	51	—	10	21	5
Coma Witch	Released: October 14, 2014 Label: Rise Formats: CD, digital download	31	—	4	8	1
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

EPs

• Money for Nothing (2013)
• Above/Below (2013)

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)

References

1. "The Acacia Strain". MusicMight. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
2. "The Acacia Strain". MixPod. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
3. "Unearth Frontman Is 'Excited' About Working with Producer Adam Dutkiewicz Again". Blabbermouth.net. 2008-04-24. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
4. "Official website". Prosthetic Records. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
5. "The Acacia Strain's 'The Most Known Unknown' DVD Lands on Billboard Chart". Blabbermouth.net. 2010-02-24. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
6. The Acacia Strain at Billboard.com
7. "THE ACACIA STRAIN To Release 'Death Is The Only Mortal'". Blabbermouth.net. 2012-07-18. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
8. "Track listing and album cover for Death is the Only Mortal". Retrieved 2012-08-19.
9. "The Acacia Strain: 'Victims Of The Cave' Lyric Video Released - Blabbermouth.net". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
10. "The Acacia Strain Van Accident: Group Crashes Outside of Los Angeles". Noisecreep. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
11. "Daniel DL Laskiewicz". Facebook. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
12. "NEWS: The Acacia Strain unveil new guitarists Devin Shidaker and Rich Gomez". Retrieved 2013-06-04.
13. "THE ACACIA STRAIN "Cauterize" music video". Metal Injection. August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
14. The Acacia Strain. "Post from 22 May 2015". Facebook. Retrieved 23 May 2015. We will miss [Jack Strong] a ton and wish him the best with his future endeavors.
15. Monger, James Christopher. "The Acacia Strain". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
16. Heaney, Gregory. "Wormwood - The Acacia Strain". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
17. "The Acacia Strain Is My Favorite Band [W/ Interview]". MetalSucks. 2011-02-28. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
18. Bee Roth, David (2008-12-30). "Exclusive Interview with The Acacia Strain's Vincent Bennett". MetalSucks. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
19. "The Acacia Strain - 2009 Interview with Vincent Bennett". hardtimes.ca. 2009-03-28. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
20. "Interview with Vincent Bennett of The Acacia Strain". Sick Drummer Magazine. 2009-05-15. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
21. "The Acacia Strain Interview". Driven Far Off. 2006-05-26. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
22. "The Acacia Strain – Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
23. "The Acacia Strain – Chart History: Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
24. "The Acacia Strain – Chart History: Independent Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
25. "The Acacia Strain – Chart History: Top Rock Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
26. "The Acacia Strain – Chart History: Hard Rock Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 29 December 2013.

External links

• Official website