The Acacia Strain -
The Dead Walk
So, have you ever listened to an album and just prayed that something would happen, something different? A new riff, a guitar solo or maybe just the brief use of a cowbell to make at least one song stand out from the rest? Well then this is probably the album you were thinking of. Unless you were thinking of any of Emmure's releases, but you can be excused for your mistake because they're the exact same band.
The Acacia Strain formed in 2001. They released their debut album, ...And Life Is Very Long, on Devil's Head records in 2002. Then in 2004 they released the exact same album under a different name. The album is known as 3750. In 2006 they released the exact same album AGAIN, that being this very album, The Dead Walk. Guess what they did in 2008? That's right, they released the same album under a different name, this time being called Continent.
If you haven't worked it out by now this band has the LEAST musical diversity I have ever heard. Not once will the song change. No, you will just be greeted by the same song, though this time it will have different lyrics. It's generally accepted that bands might rip-off another bands riff, but why Emmure get so much crap for ripping off The Acacia Strain I don't know. Maybe it's because The Acacia Strain have only used a single riff in their career. Who knows?
So let's start with the guitarists. Well what do you want me to say? They use the same bouncy low-tuned guitar riff every single song. Oh wait, but sometimes they play the exact same thing but they'll slow down how fast they play it so it sounds different. Okay, I'll admit, every now and then something different comes along (every ten minutes or so), but until then it's nothing but repetition. The guitarists only job is to do constant chugging and a half-hearted riff until the breakdown comes. I must mention, there is a breakdown every fifteen seconds or so. I'm not joking.
The vocalist, well I'll give him points for trying. He falls under the typical "I'm a tough guy" vocal catagory that applies to most modern Hardcore Punk. When he's not using his tough guy vocals, he'll try a typical Deathcore sounding growl, except he'll influence it with his tough guy vocals. Honestly, never before have I heard such cliche vocals on a record.
Now the biggest problem here is the song-structure. Most songs are around the three minute mark but those are some of the dullest three minutes you'll ever live through. Each song goes like this, bouncy Nu-Metal riffing, chugging, Nu-Metal riffing, chugging, breakdown, chugging, breakdown, chugging, huge breakdown, some more breakdowns mixed in with the chugging. And while all of this goes on you have some guy shouting tough Hardcore vocals. It gets boring in the first song, let alone the next ten.
You see, Metalcore isn't exactly known for its great lyrical output. Most songs have cheesy "I love you so much" lyrics or even worse, "I'll cut your throat" revenge type lyrics. The Acacia Strain fall into group B. Here are some examples:
From 4x4: Eat shit and live. You dug your own grave; I just helped you fill it.
From As If Set Afire: She fell off and broke her neck, further ahead in the song, I heard her, but I didn't care. One less mouth to feed, one less complaint.
From See You Next Tuesday: The thought of your genitials makes me sick and I bet you could fit five cocks up that ass.
I'm amazed. It's as if they tried to get this tough, don't give a shit attitude reputation going for them, but instead I would use the words try hard Metalcore failure. Anger and hate has been displayed so much better by countless other bands that the attempts here are nothing short of laughable.
So with all of these negatives that I've pointed you may be wondering why it gets the 1.5 rating. Simple, because I feel Burnface is worthy of a 1.5 rating, and each song after that is exactly the same. My advice, avoid this and check out Bleeding Through for Metalcore done correctly.
Download: Burnface
For fans of: Emmure, Terror
Rating: 1.5 (I thought the generic nature of a 1.5 summed up this album perfectly)
The Acacia Strain
Ten Miles High
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