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Band/Artist Profile

Band of the Week: The Acacia Strain

The Acacia Strain (TAS) is an American metalcore band originally from Chicopee, Massachusetts, that formed in 2001. They are currently signed to Rise Records and have 10 full-length albums. The band first started with high school friends Vincent Bennett, Christopher Daniele, and Ben Abert. They were in a band called Septic Orgasm and they wanted to take their band to the next level and make the music more technical. Their friend, Daniel “DL” Laskiewics was to play both bass and guitar, but he received a shoulder injury playing football, so the band got their friend Daniel Daponde from Blood Has Been Shed to play guitar for them. Daponde brought a heavier and technical sound to the band, so when DL returned, they asked Daponde to stay, thus creating a three-guitar lineup.

TAS has been categorized as metalcore, but I think they are predominately deathcore due to their heavy tuned guitars, their technicality, and the vocals that are used. The band has been noted to include influences from sludge metal, doom metal, death metal, and some punk rock style aesthetic. By having three guitar players, it gave a signature blend of hardcore punk, death metal, and doom metal to develop a bone crushing sound. The band sees their sound as “hardcore-influenced metal” which I can hear when listening to their music. They have some absolute skull crushing riffs and vocals, but when mixing in some 2 step riffs and other hardcore contributions, it makes for a very unique style of music. Also, when seeing TAS live, the majority of the crowd are hardcore kids. They love them some TAS!!!

When looking at the lyrics of TAS songs, they are written by their lead vocalist, Vincent Bennett, and they are generally centered around misanthropy, nihilism, misogynistic and sexually deviant imagery. He usually uses metaphors to help get his points across while keeping the songs’ overall meaning open for interpretation.


Discography:

…And Life Is Very Long (2002)

3750 (2004)

The Dead Walk (2006)

Continent (2008)

Wormwood (2010)

Death Is the Only Mortal (2012)

Coma Witch (2014)

Gravebloom (2017)

It Comes In Waves (2019)

Slow Decay (2020)


Current Lineup:

Vincent Bennett (vocalist)

Kevin Boutot (drums)

Devin Shidaker (guitarist)

Griffin Landa (bass)

Tom “The Hammer” Smith, Jr. (guitarist)

Stay Metal,

THE SAW