Giving the Strain a Second Chance: Wormwood

My first encounter with The Acacia Strain was not very enjoyable. I hadn't heard too much from them before, despite the fact they've been on the scene for nearly a decade. That was over a year ago and as much as can be expected, I hadn't listened to nearly anything from their camp since.

That changed this past week when I decided to give their newest album Wormwood a chance - at the behest of one of my friends who very rarely steers me wrong. He passed me his copy of the album and I gave it a run through later that day.

As soon as the first track on the album broke open I noticed that familiar, slow and 'sludgy' tone and once again I had my doubts - for about a track or two. I had admittedly only heard a handful of their songs in the past and the live performance I witnessed left much to be desired - but Wormwood was starting to give me a reason to wipe the slate clean.

It took a few tracks for me to get into the groove (as I've surrounded myself with certain types of bands recently) but as soon as it kicked in I got a kick of old school nostalgia - and that feeling like you want to just break something, in a good way. 

The Acacia Strain employ slow but powerful rhythms along with dark and brutal lyrics that fit nearly perfectly together. After going through some of their older material you can spot some of the technical evolution and improvements they've made to their music - without taking away from their intrinsic brutal style.

Tracks like BTM FDR and The Hills Have Eyes showcase the Strain's core elements, while tracks like Jonestown and The Impaler give a better look at the bands technical style. 

I suppose this will need some type of scoring grade and since I'm playing StarCraft:  

4/5 Brutalisks. Serious business as always.