Continent - Dark Publications

Location: Home » music » General » Continent

Similar Items:

•	Awaken the Dreamers
•	All Hope Is Gone
•	This Is Exile
•	Overcome
•	The March

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
It's a relatively cool night for May and the peaceful silence of a small Massachusetts town is shattered. Although it is not overbearingly loud, keen ears perk up as the members of THE ACACIA STRAIN turn their collective head towards the building. Production mastermind Zeuss (Shadows Fall, Hatebreed) is inside, dialing in the sounds at Studio Z during the band s first excursion with the aural expert.

Then again, we are talking about THE ACACIA STRAIN, Springfield, Massachusetts' heaviest band, returning with their latest offering: Continent. The name alone implores and implies something massive and demanding, exactly what this album is.

"This album is definitely darker than anything we have done in the past. It's more proper, if that is even possible. It is our most angry release to date" says vocalist Vincent Bennett, with an ever so slight emphasis on the word angry. From the social critique on the lull of cultural comfort, the deep-rooted resentment that festers inside has darkened. "Continent is basically my absolute disgust towards everything. The whole album is based on the concept of nihilism. The world as we know it was a fluke and there is no meaning in anything. It is about pulling yourself out of society because everything makes you sick. It is about purposefully leaving everything behind and destroying everything you think you love. It is about hatred, anger, rage and resentment. Nothing is sure to me anymore. Everything has been tainted. This album is pretty much exonerating myself from it all."

The band s sound is undeniably darker on Continent, yet THE ACACIA STRAIN manages still to likewise hold true to the band s established identity, retaining its signature sound while still combining more speed, brutality, and more atypical song construction. That said, THE ACACIA STRAIN has effectively established themselves at the front of a pack of ever-expanding and equally evolving extreme music contenders.

We write music that we like playing, Bennett continues. Too many people in bands lately have just been putting out records and playing shows so they can BE in a band and be popular. There is no passion anymore; it s all an internet popularity contest. We write the music we do because we like playing it, and if people are into it then that's an amazing bonus. There are so many useless arguments on the internet about what kind of band is metal or metalcore or deathcore or hardcore or whatever. Shut up. Listen to music. The minute you try to define it is the exact moment it loses all of its actual meaning.

Undeniably, meaning is something high on the band s list for the release of Continent, the third release for Prosthetic and fourth overall for THE ACACIA STRAIN. Tying lyrics and music with visual interpretation once again is artist Paul Romano, uniting Continent s theme of nihilism and misanthropy with the album s visually stunning mural of destruction. Now, with the band s line-up stable, rounded out by guitarist DL, bassist Jack Strong and drummer Kevin Boutot, THE ACACIA STRAIN is poised to continue down the road of growth and progression, something they have been doing since The Dead Walk s release in 2006. Proving their power on the road time and time again and leveraging their sonic devastation in cities across the US and Canada, 2008 shall be no different for THE ACACIA STRAIN. The only difference is Continent will be the end of everything.

Album Description
The Acacia Strain is a four-piece metalcore/deathcore band based in Chicopee, Massachusetts, USA. The band as a whole has been together since 2001 but has undergone many member changes. The band is known for their heavy downtuned guitars, irregular breakdowns, groove patterns, and for arguably popularizing the use of the tritone or "brown note" (an interval of a sharp fourth) in metalcore breakdowns.In 2008, the band only has one guitarist but originally had three, and continue to use multiple guitar tracks on their recordings. Vocalist Vincent Bennett, during the period of time the band employed three guitarists, had this to say "Most bands need to record multiple guitar tracks in the studio to achieve the kind of heaviness; The Acacia Strain deliver every time they step on stage."

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars

An album to please the fans August 31, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

By now, most people know where they stand with The Acacia Strain: You either love the fun of a relatively simple and groovy downtuned assault, or you hate it. Aside from focusing the album around a central theme and some songs featuring slightly more progressive elements, "Continent" is pretty much what you should expect from the band.

The first song, "Skynet," is a more experimental song for TAS; after a thick introduction riff that gets slower and slower, the song breaks into a more up tempo number with a fairly melodic chorus which closes with a typical TAS breakdown.

The second track, "The Seaward," is perhaps the strongest song on the album, including mid tempo groovy riffing seen on earlier tracks like "Burnface" and "The Dead Walk," a catchy two step section with the signature harmonics, and two crushing breakdowns. This track even features a riff that wouldn't be out of place on a Meshuggah album (flashes TAS have shown occasionally in the past). "Dr. Doom" is another strong track that efficiently balances fast riffing, more breakdowns, and even a short solo.

After the three opening tracks, the album falls into a nice pace with a number of slow to mid tempo heavy tracks with no shortage of bass drops, tritones, breakdowns, and pinched harmonics. "Continent" is at its best when it centers these elements around groove and rhythm to create a song which is not just brutal, but also catchy. They have been doing this well since 3750, however now the band only has one guitarist (D.L.) with the departure of Daniel Daponde. Despite D.L. presumingly having to writing most of the music, there is still a good bit of variety on "Continent."

The only point where the album starts to drag are with "JFC" and "Kraken," songs that focus more on just chugging and being as heavy as possible, but lose sight of those elements of catchiness. The songs are not throwaways, but they do lack some of the energy of the songs preceding them. The album closes strong with the short but pounding "The Combine," and the very interesting "The Behemoth," which is very similar to "Halcyon" off of "3750"...a melodic instrumental that forces a 180 degree turn of mood and emotion onto the listener.

Vincent Bennett is in his prime on this album. He has all but ditched any high pitched screaming and raspiness and has switched to a very deep vocal delivery for the entirety of the disc. His lyrics are similar to those of "The Dead Walk," mixing disdain for the human race with very black humor. "Continent" is a bit of a concept album, as now he has coupled his hatred for rampant promiscuity with the theme of destroying the world. There are plenty of great lines for the kids to shout at the shows about ending the world, killing everyone, etc. Jack Strong augments the low end well, and Kevin Boutot does a fine job behind the kit, putting in nice fills here and there.

Overall, "Continent" is exactly what you would expect/hope it to be. If you loved "The Dead Walk," you will certainly love this. The Acacia Strain is the best band doing what they do, and they have turned out a number of very memorable songs. The album loses a little steam near the end, but overall is very well done.

5 out of 5 stars

Brutal August 19, 2008
This is by far the best Metal album of 2008 handsdown.
Didnt think they could top deadwalk but they crushed it.

BUY THIS ALBUM TRUST ME

5 out of 5 stars

Be afraid...... August 21, 2008
This is more than I hoped for.It will make you want to kill your neighbors.Vincent Bennett has really set himself apart from the herd.His vocals are a steady growl of pure hate.The surprise instrumental ending this release"The Behemoth",is both brutal and beautiful at the same time.BUY THIS NOW OR I'll tear you apart....

Powered by Associate-O-Matic

T-shirts, Posters

Pentagram T-shirts, bags, etc...

Gothic Posters