Wormwood

構成数 : 1枚
合計収録時間 : 00:00:00
This 2010 release isn't the first time an album that was metal-related in some fashion has had the title Wormwood. That album title has also been used by artists ranging from Christian metalcore band Fewleftstanding to Swedish black metallers Marduk (wormwood is a plant used in the production of absinthe). But the Acacia Strain aren't looking to either Fewleftstanding or Marduk for creative inspiration on this CD, although they do share Fewleftstanding's appreciation of hardcore. The Acacia Strain have their own version of a scorched-earth policy, and alternative metal is the band's main weapon of choice. Drawing on direct or indirect influences that include Pantera, Sepultura, Pro-Pain, and Crowbar, the Acacia Strain favor a caustic and highly abrasive recipe that includes chugging riffs, breakdowns, crushing density, and a big dose of anger. How angry does lead singer Vincent Bennett sound on this 2010 release? Very angry -- like someone who lives and breaths anger. Wormwood offers 47 minutes of pure, unadulterated venom. But for all its skull-smashing intensity, Wormwood is also an album of hooks. Wormwood isn't terribly musical -- certainly not in the way that power metal, progressive metal, goth metal, or folk-metal are known for being musical -- but it's definitely hooky. And in their own vicious way, tracks like "The Impaler," "The Hills Have Eyes," "Terminated," and the single "Jonestown" are quite infectious -- at least if one has a taste for the harsher side of alt-metal. Wormwood batters and bruises, but it also grooves. Anyone who expects the Acacia Strain's Wormwood to sound like either Fewleftstanding's Wormwood or Marduk's Wormwood will be disappointed, but metalheads who have been following these Massachusetts residents since the early 2000s and have found some of their previous releases to be uneven will be glad to know that this is among their more focused and consistent outings. ~ Alex Henderson