the acacia strain - failure will follow

the doomier one of the whole double album release affair. not bad at all. 4.000 copies on 'seafood allergy' vinyl. rise records.

the acacia strain - step into the light

latest tas effort unleashed unto the world as a double album sort of thing. i prefer this one. the strain delivering the goods again. 4.000 copies on highlighter yellow vinyl. rise records.

the acacia strain - slow decay

there are not many bands around that release as consistently good as the acacia strain. their latest effort "slow decay" is another great full length under their belt (number nine!). only got the lame european version on gold vinyl (un)limited to 1.700 copies. still sounds great ;-) released by rise records in 2020.

the acacia strain - it comes in waves

wow, the acacia strain are back with a vengeance. three years since "gravebloom" and the band brings a significant change of sound to the table. reminds me of "death is the only mortal" which also felt different to the rest of the band's catalogue.

dark and bleak as always but almost no hardcore elements anymore. a mix of death metal and post metal as far as i feel about it. at first i wasn't sure if i like it, but with repeated spins it grows on me more and more. the presentation is outstanding. sturdy stoughton tip-on gatefold sleeve, smashing artwork, invisible ink and sharp white/black merge vinyl. 700 copies made. closed casket activities. 2020.

the acacia strain - wormwood

finally! a gaping wound in my collection can now be closed eventually. to this point i had all the acacia strain full lengths on a first press basis, except that miserable first pressing of "wormwood", the band's fifth record. i missed out in the first place in 2010 and when i started to chase the vinyl versions a few years later, prices were already sky rocketing.

there were 1.000 copies of the first press, 500 on black vinyl and five colours each limited to 100. all of them are selling for 100 quid at least. the clear blue version even sold for 180 dollars. no way i was going to fight for a copy in that weight class. thankfully prosthetic records had the insight to finally re-press this monster.

musically this one is fantastic. i had almost forgotten about it but when i listen to the album, i cannot help but keep thinking that it is almost as good as "continent". especially the guest vocals by hatebreed's jamey jasta on "the beast" and 100 demons' bruce lepage on "nightman" are mind blowing. the colour-way is ace, too. 250 copies on semi translucent orange with white and blue splatter. prosthetic records. 2010/2019.

the acacia strain - gravebloom

sorry for the little lack of posts the last week but i was occupied with getting a ticket for this year's wacken festival and attending it eventually. but more of this at the given time. now back to daily business: the acacia strain's eigth full length called "gravebloom". the band is around since 2001 in one form or another. this means 2017 marks their fifteen year anniversary and a roughly average of one album every two years. remarkable if you ask me.

over the years the acacia strain witnessed multiple line-up changes with vocalist vincent bennett being the only steady member since its founding. somehow they managed to maintain their trademark sound. hefty death metal combined with nyc hardcore groove and arhythmic breakdowns. beginning with "wormwood" in 2010 they started to become more complex with a strong doom touch. "death is the only mortal" two years later was too much of a good thing for me. in 2014 and with another line-up change "coma witch" was a splendid return to form and combining the new doom elements with the crushing fierceness of "continent" from 2008.

now "gravebloom" worked with the same approach which made "coma witch" so good to me. the only difference is that "gravebloom" is simply better. this bad boy is so heavy, fast, intense, slow, dark, depressing, dissonant, angry, crushing - an abyssal trip through the dark centre of man. wow, i cannot praise this scorcher enough. you have to listen to this album in whole to live through all the ups and downs, the highs and lows "gravebloom" has on offer. a masterpiece in my eyes.

this is the third acacia strain album being released via rise records. they use to manufacture a high amount of vinyl copies for their releases. thankfully rise records presses some fancy colour-ways even for the least limited pressing which was available via german distros. i bought my copy from jpc.de. it comes on black inside clear with grey splatter vinyl. looks lovely. the artwork shows a common thread throughout the covers since "wormwood". again justin kamerer of angryblue was responsible for the great art. 3.000 copies made of my version. rise records. 2017.

the depression sessions

"the depression sessions" is a three-way split featuring thy art is murder, the acacia strain and fit for an autopsy. i am a fan of the first two, the acacia strain in particular and therefore was tempted to get this split 12". as all three bands would contribute only one new song and a cover song each, i was a bit split over the relevance of this output. two things convinced me eventually. number one was the song "they will know another" from thy art is murder. since "holy war", their latest album, this band knows how to combine finest tech death metal with wonderful, apocalyptic melodies and this song is just another proof.

reason number two was the two cover songs of taim and tas. tas graces us with their version of soundgarden's "black hole sun" and taim crafted rammstein's "du hast" into their very own sound. i have a personal connection with both songs. "black hole sun" was a video favourite of mine. the song and the video make for such a strong symbiosis and the visuals make the music even better. i got rammstein's record "sehnsucht" from 1997 as a gift back then and it was one of the first real full lengths i listened to. i knew every song by heart but their stuff didn't really age well with me.

all the more i was surprised as to how taim made this song so enjoyable to me. i love how these australians played with the tempo and song structure. it gives "du hast" a real unique touch plus it's always entertaining listening to non-native speakers trying to sing/scream in german, haha. tas's version of "black hole sun" is more in the vein of the original but still cool. fit for an autopsy's two songs are not really my cup of tea - i had to look up that they did a nine inch nails cover - but still this is quality and i can see why they share this split. 350 copies on clear with red splatter. nuclear blast. rise records. good fight entertainment. 2016.

the acacia strain - 3750

this is the last record in my little 'long-time-want' series. the final piece is the acacia strain's second album called '3750'. acacia strain always had changing band members and even the number of members wasn't consistent over the years. back in 2004 they had been six in number. the only constant is singer vincent benett and his voice really is the poster child of the group. '3750' is more 'metalcore' in comparison to recent works but considering the time frame and the fact that adam dutkiewicz of killswitch engage fame was the producer, this make sense.

listen to 'smoke ya later' and 'sun poison and skin cancer' and move like everybody did ten years ago, whatever that means. next to 'wormwood', which i still don't have in my collection, a coloured vinyl copy of '3750' always seemd to be the most elusive one. the cd version was released through prosthetic records, they in turn liscensed the rights to spare change records. spare change was active from the mid to late 00's and they pressed only 199 coloured copies of this album.

i made some half-assed attempts to get my hands on a copy throughout the years, but with some money of an ebay deal in my paypal account i finally stepped up and got serious. i found a seller on discogs who listed the album for a considerable chunk of cash but with an 'make an offer' option. i was able to lower the price a bit and am now the proud owner of #119/199 on this nice clear vinyl. sadly there is no insert coming with this release but i have the cd as well. spare change records. 2004.

the acacia strain - the dead walk

the last day of the pink vinyl week has come and i will end it with a lump of sugar. at least that's what it is to me. i'm an acacia strain fan since 'continent' back in 2008. after i fell in love with that specific record, of course i ventured back into their discography to see what their other records would bring. '3750' and 'the dead walk' are some strong bastards and to this date i'm struggling to get my hands on a clear '3750' copy. with 'the dead walk' there never was such struggle, simply because it never got the vinyl treatment. until now. until the day the event of black friday rsd '14 came around the corner.

it was the first time i participated, or let's say i wanted to. in hamburg there wasn't much black friday rsd action going on in any of the stores. only my favourite store, burnout records, had some selected titles in stock but none of them i wanted. so it was clear that i had to bite the bullet and see what i could achieve online checking options across the pond. in the end i was able to score a copy on ebay usa, one day after bf rsd from a participating store. i won the auction for the going rate, but of course with shipping costs it got pretty pricey. ah well, what's the use?!

the record just kicks as much ass as i remembered it did. the typical acacia strain sound which they, thankfully, revived with their latest record 'coma witch' and which made me love them in the first place. check out 'pity' and 'see you next tuesday'. scorchers! the presentation is pretty much standard quality which is fine by me. there's only one exception, the vinyl itself. man, this is one piece of flimsy plastic. i mean, it need not to be 180gr but a bit more quality would have been appropriate, especially for a selling price of around twenty dollars. the colour is awesome though. 1000 on piggy pink. prosthetic records. 2006/2014. 

the acacia strain - coma witch

i was in breathless anticipation as i red about the anouncement of the new the acacia strain record 'coma witch'. you know about my feelings concerning the last record 'death is the only mortal'? to sum them up, i was highly disappointed about it. it was so exhausting, so inaccessible, and yes, so boring that i thought their good times were all through. but then came their teaser 7" 'above / below', these two songs promised a revival of their old sound.

with 'old sound' i mean the fantastic first three records up to their crowning achievement 'continent'. and now that i hold the record in hands and played it a few times on my turntable, i cannot get the grin off of my face. yes my the acacia strain are back. i welcome their regained straight forward riffing. of course they still have these off-beat elements and dissonant rhythms but they scaled them down to a digestiable dosage.

i'm really more than happy about this return to form. you know how it is, a loved band of yours strayed from the path and you just had to let them go. and then, out of the blue, they're coming home. welcome back! you sit around a table, chat about the new things, giggle about times you've been through together way back in the day and cast aside the recent misdeeds with a wave of the hand. listen to 'holy walls of the vatican' and to 'send help' and make yourself comfortable.

the second disc comes with a track called observer which spans over both sides of the vinyl. in the description text over at per koro, where i bought the record from, said this was a half an hour long song consisting of dark samples, growls and screams. i was initially put off by this statement. my first association coming to mind was the intro of the slipknot's 'iowa' album. you ever heard that? man, that is hard to take because it sounds so utterly insane to me. after i listened to 'observer' for the first time, i was relieved to find that it was nothing like that. it's simply an overlong song that gets under your skin. take the time and be rewarded!

i saw some pre-orders going up but only for clear vinyl and green for bundles. must have been already late to the process because later on i was informed about a 'starbust' colour via discogs more limited than the clear or green ones. as the release date came i checked at per koro and thankfully they had a coloured option available. by then i saw pics of a pruple marble on the net which had been chosen for distribution. i got that in the end and am very happy with it. it just looks lovely. don't care about the admittedly high pressing number of 2400 copies. comes with full album on cd. rise records. 2014.

the acacia strain - above/below

a new acacia strain offering and i am very sceptical to say the least. news came to me through a pretty remote channel. i scrolled down the new in stock list at per koro and came across it. that was cool in a way because it spared me the torture of waiting of a pre-order process. instead of that it was quite exciting not to know any song or the colour it would come on.

at first when it arrived i was pretty delighted to see the lovely colour way matching the cover art nicely. but then came the tricky part. dropping the needle on it. the last record "death is the only mortal" was kind of exhausting. but not the rewarding type. so you may understand my joy as i heard the first song "above". up-tempo, face melting riffs and a bone crushing breakdown. hell yeah, this feels like "wormwood" and "death is the only mortal" never happened and they continued right after "continent".

the second song "below" is not quite as strong but the apocalyptic feeling is definitely there and they finally know how to keep their songs interesting again. the line-up changes had been pretty healthy in my eyes. "above/below" is a great appetiser and i'm craving for the upcoming release. let it come. this was supposed to be a brown colour but it came out a little different. more orange if you ask me. 600 made. rise records. 2013.

dead format: the acacia strain - continent

the acacia strain - continent

and another major want off of my list. man, the acacia strain's sophomore release 'continent' seems to be a really tricky one to come by. it is one of those albums i had on cd as long as it has been vomited forth onto the world. and boy, i really love this album. it's full of dark and claustrophobic melodies, mammoth breakdowns, crushing uptempo parts and hatred for mankind. you just don't want the sun to ever shine on the earth again, listening to 'continent'.

as i said before, this bastard is elusive. at least the coloured versions. green and red vinyl, if my information is correct, with red being the more limited. no discogs, no ebay (not one single copy in two years) and no other possible source. so i thought i just had to take events into my own hands. i made an dead format account many moons ago. i can't really recall why because i never wanted to up something like a trade list. generally i don't do trades because i want to keep the stuff that i have. and trading one record i want but already have in my collection for another record i want seems pointless. it still leaves me with a record i want, or better, want back.

but in this situation i thought i just search for people on dead format having 'continent' in their trade lists and just ask them, if they also sell their copy. i wrote e-mails to probably five dudes and waited for an answer. the first dude replying was defanatic1758 from the u.s. we arranged a price which, i think, was decent enough and two weeks later this nice shining copy of the acacia strain's 'continent' was mine. again this is a good example for the integrity of the hardcore scene around the world. i mean, i sent the money without any guarantee that this would work out, and still, it worked. thumbs up! 100 made. prosthetic records. 2008.

per koro pt. 1/5: the acacia strain

i have some geek rules when it's about blogging. i post about records in the order i recieve them. not in the order i ordered them. there is no exception. geek rule number two is that i have to listen to the records at least once so i can form an at least half decent opinion. geek rule #3 is that i categorize my posts according to the places i got the stuff from. when there are more than three records i got in one go i divide the post into as much parts as needed (even numbers if possible), which is actually geek rule #4.

why i tell you that? good question! i'm about to change one of my rules. by now i think it's cooler to give one record one single post on its own. so i'm starting a little experiment today. the next five records to come are all of one order from per koro. when i start with the first today, i have to get the four following posts done by this month (because that's geek rule #5). i'll see if i can make it and this procedure works for me.

enough said. onto the record...

the acacia strain - death is the only mortal

man, the new acacia strain. it's not actually new. it came out somewhere in 2012. i recognized this release but i wasn't too keen on actually getting a copy for several reasons. first reason was that 'wormwood', the precursor album, didn't really convince me. they had become too slow, too bulky and too dissonant. next reason was that at the time i was involved in too many other stuff and the last reason was the availability. i knew of two versions and i knew i would get the more common one if i order from a german distro. to get the limited version i would have to order from the states which increases shipping rates. i try to avoid that in the recent past. i found that i can get almost everything through german distros or local record shops. so it took me quite some time to get a copy of 'death is the only mortal'.

i added it to my last per koro order because i got pretty curious about what the record would sound like. i listened to it 4-5 times by now and i think i can safely say that it's a bit of a let down. they pretty much walked the way of the 'wormwood' again. it's still too slow, too bulky and too dissonant. in some moments you get the feeling that they finally push it forward with some up tempo parts and some nice melodies but just in the next seconds they fall back into their tardy sound walls. a bit too monotonous to me. i wish they would go back to the sound of records like '3750', 'the dead walk' or 'continent'.

so taste is arguable but what is definitely cool through an objective view is the presentation. nice gatefold sleeve with cool art work on both sides, a nice lyric sheet, white vinyl and a cd to rip the music for your digital amusement. white vinyl is limited to 1000 copies. theres a green/pink splatter version also 'limited' to 1000 copies (this is what i thought to be the more limited one). seems like a pretty high amount of copies to me. are they that successful in the states?

rise records. 2012.