Being from the New England area, I have been absolutely spoiled in both professional sport team championships and local music. One of the absolute titans of that discussion, The Acacia Strain, continues to march forward with their thirteenth album, You Are Safe From God Here (Rise Records). The depressing nature of both the instrumentals and the lyrics makes you feel the grief behind each beat.

“Swamp Mentality” is quite the interesting track as it throws a grindy curveball in the beginning at you which is not super typical from The Acacia Strain. The second half of the track returns back to what one would consider normal for TAS as the tempo comes back down to a sludgy outro.

“The Machine That Bleeds” provides more of a death metal approach through Colin Young and Brody King feature spots (which include them screaming their own band name, God’s Hate, so tough). The breakdown of both guest vocalists trading spots and then Vincent Bennett returning to tie the track together is a really cool culmination of some of the most recognizable voices in the scene today.

“World Gone Cold” is the last normal-length track on You Are Safe From God Here (the actual last track being the thirteen-minute epic, “eucharist ii: Blood Loss”) and is the penultimate song dealing with grief and the mental instability that follows. The sludge/doom outro/breakdown all while Vincent screams “I watched you die!” truly could end the album. But, praise be to The Acacia Strain tossing in doom songs here and there when they can.

From the early days through now, The Acacia Strain continues to be a force to reckon with in the metalcore and adjacent spaces. Getting to experience their evolution from a deathcore band in the early 2000’s to this amalgamation of death metal, hardcore, sludge, and doom in You Are Safe From God Here has been fascinating and they continue to keep me wondering of what is next.

Buy the album here:
https://theacaciastrain.lnk.to/YASFGH

8 / 10
TIM LEDIN
Follow Tim’s work here: