The Acacia Strain, the Deathcore heavyweights from Massachusetts, have been active for more than two decades now. During these years they have given us iconic albums, such as my very favorite "Wormwood" (2010), which I consider one of the greatest albums of the genre. Three years ago, TAS launched in a special and unique way one of their best albums to date, called “Slow Decay” (2020), releasing five double singles each with the title being a letter from the word "DECAY". The album left their audience looking forward to the next release, with the band having shown that they are in one of their best phases compositionally. Their brand new record, to everyone's surprise, consists of two separate albums and was released on May 12 through Rise Records. The first part is called "Step Into The Light" and contains ten songs, while the second part is called "Failure Will Follow" and in it you’ll find three songs longer than ten minutes each.
From the first seconds of "Flourishing" you can understand that a heavy and stormy album is about to follow. Surely such a beginning could not go unnoticed and not attract the listener's interest. The material that follows is highly dystopian, dark and wonderfully violent at the same time. The work done by the entire band is outstanding and is fully highlighted through the flawless production. At this point we have to give credit to Randy LeBoeuf, who has once again delivered a stunning result. The sound is ideal and exemplary for an album of this genre. “Step Into The Light” as a whole has many elements of Metallic / Blackened Hardcore, with many references to the roots of The Acacia Strain early era, which could not be missing. I'll mention below my favorites after the spins I've had, note that the record has been playing on repeat for the past few days. "Chain" is undeniably a flawless track, filled with continuous blast beats for its longest duration followed by a heavy beatdown at the end of the song. The band's collaboration on the song with Chamber’s singer, Jacob Lilly, has hit the bull's eye. The next song I singled out is "Sinkhole", a song that no matter how many times you listen to, will always pull you deeper and deeper into rot and pessimism. One of the highlights of the record, in my opinion, is the transition from the first part of the song, which is slow and robust, with Vincent Bennett followed by Josef Alfonso of Sunami shouting “We all die slow, Leave me alone" and leading the song to a more rhythmic and increasingly faster part. I couldn't miss "Untended Graves", which was also the first sample that the band gave us from this particular release. The song is in one word, "devastating". It’s a masterpiece from the first note to the last. With "Untended Graves" TAS show how much importance they attach to detail.
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With the second part of the release named "Failure Will Follow", the band introduces us to more atmospheric paths. This is an experimental album in which the band shows us their appetite to try to compose something slower and different from their usual sound approach and their love for the more Sludge / Doom style. The truth is that they do it so well that listening to the record you think that TAS has years of experience composing in this sound. And in this second part of the release, we definitely hear a very well written result with great production and tons of atmosphere in most parts of it. Although the length of the tracks varies from 10 to 17 minutes, they have managed to keep the interest and attention of the listener for the entire duration. In my opinion, the most interesting part of this release is the most complete part of the record, "Basin of Vows". In this track they manage to "suffocate" the listener in the shelters of dirty sludge and at the same time turn the song somewhere in the middle into a highly atmospheric and melodic - redemptive after continuous synthetic transitions with the contribution of Primitive Man’s Ethan McCarthy. After the American tour that the two bands did together earlier this year, it seems that the Deathcore veterans are trying with their moves to bridge their name with the Sludge sound for good.
In conclusion, The Acacia Strain gives us two quite different releases but, at the same time harmoniously connected in a blackened, dystopian atmosphere that dominates and lures you into your darkest thoughts. These are two remarkable and polished albums. "Step Into The Light" in particular could easily claim a place in the year's top extreme sound releases. I'm definitely curious to hear what approach their next release will take.
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