Reviews

Carbomb, the first track, is the heaviest thing ever. One of the best, most unrelenting groove of punishment ever unleashed. And then the vocals come in, demonic, heavy and slow: “This. Is. True. Crime.” Simply amazing. But then the droning heaviness gives way to a slightly more traditional sludgy metal paradigm on the second track and on, and the unique crush is dispelled.  If the entire album was made up of songs like Carbomb, or even if the whole of 3750 was just track one repeated over and over, it would be a five star record.
 
The Acacia Strain are six good looking dudes from Massachusetts with three guitars, full stacks and A# tuning. Their stated goal is “to write the heaviest music possible,” and with 3750 they get so close to achieving it, but always blow it with a misplaced melodic line or clean vocal track.  Stick to your goals!  When The Acacia Strain just sits back on a heavy groove and rides it full force into the mosh pit, they are godlike.  And when your band is that heavy, one of the most effective tools is pure silence. On Passing The Pencil Test, the use of silence in the breakdown is textbook. The anticipation created by dropping from huge heavy beats into absolute nothingness is astounding, and The Acacia Strain does it three times in a row.  Each time your sure the track has ended, the silence stretching just beyond plausibility and then dropping back in with the crush.  Silence “I’ll fuck you, kill you, and leave you” Silence.  Repeat.
 
At only nine tracks, with one or two instrumentals, The Acacia Strain definitely leave you wanting more.  More great lyrics, more three guitar assault, more fucking crush. The three minute fade out of random radio snippets at the end of Sunpoison And Skin Cancer is so frustrating, because you desperately want those three minutes to be utilized better; ie. with music. This is their second album, so I guess the desperate can pick up the first for more of their mix of doom, death metal, and hardcore (not to mention pure noise and samples). The true crime would be not giving The Acacia Strain a listen.