The Acacia Strain are heavier than ever with the release of their fifth studio effort, Wormwood. The album opens up with the track, Beast, which Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed appears in. The build up of the opening track will have every Acacia Strain fan banging their heads. A robotic voice come in stating, “Whatever’s neccesary to do, you do it/ If somebody need to be killed, there’s no wrong, you do it/Then you move on….And to kill whoever gets in your way is the best”. Them DL’s guitar comes in and fans will defacate themselves because of the brutality of the guitar work by itself. The press release that came out saying that this is their most “angry” and intense work yet, is 100% correct. By the end of Beast, fans will be hooked to Wormwood, wanting to listen to the album all the way through. It’s the perfect opening track for the record. The preceding twelve track continue to push anger and rage through the listener’s mind and melt their face off. Beast has a perfect intro and outro, which really adds a lot of tension to the song. By the second track, The Hills Have Eyes, fans will realize that familiar sound of The Acacia Strain’s signature hardcore fury filled sound by the intro of the track .
DL choosing to use an eight string guitar was definitely a good choice oh his part, as well as for the rest of the band. It helped the album be heavier, deeper, and sludgier than any other previous release from The Acacia Strain. DL’s decision to use an eight string makes The Acacia Strain more unique than they were before the release of Wormwood (which they already were before, as well) and gives them an extremely lower sound because of the rock-bottom tuning possible when using an eight string guitar. The CD features some of The Acacia Strain’s best breakdowns and guitar work EVER, however Vincent’s lyrics do become very repetitive and every song is about the same thing after a while. That’s really the only criticism I have with this album, there’s nothing else to criticize. It’s an epic masterpiece.
Tracks like Ramirez and Terminated show Vincent’s hate of the entire human race with his forceful and powerful vocals. In the track Ramirez, Vincent states, “I am the one who will bring hell upon you all/ I’ll stand at the gates and watch your kingdom fall/ Ashes to ashes and dust into dust/ This world is a graveyard/I DON’T GIVE A FUCK!” The intro to the ending track, Tactical Nuke, is the most intense intro the band has ever written. Tactical Nuke was a great choice for the album closer, best instrumental they have written in the history of the band. Just when you think it can’t possibly get any more freakin heavier, it does.
I would recommend picking up this album to any of The Acacia Strain’s fans, just for the plain and simple reason that all the members perform their best that they ever have. There’s more bad ass sound effects in this album than Continent, which add so much more to the songs. Vincent’s vocals are more aggressive and vengeful than ever. Kevin’s drumming is the best on Wormwood, however, DL’s guitar work clearly stands out as The Acacia Strian’s most significant improvement. They took a major step up in the world of metal with the release of their fourth album with Prosthetic Records, and fifth album, overall, including …And Life Is Very Long with Devil Head Records. They’ve come a very long way from their debut in 2002 to now.
-Jacob
Tags: Acacia, Strain, the, the acacia strain, Wormwood
Posted in Album Reviews
Posted by Jacob
