HEAVY MUSIC HISTORY: 3750 – The Acacia Strain

Picture the scene. It’s a rainy day, you’re stuck indoors and so you hop onto the family computer. Inbetween a game of Morrowind and checking your Myspace page, a friend has dropped you a message on MSN to tell you that he’s just heard the heaviest music in the world. Curious, you ask him to send it to you, and after an hour of trickling through over your internet, you’re finally able to press play. Not only was he not lying, but your whole view of music is changed forever. Having formed in 2001 and released their debut …And Life Is Very Long just a year later (though some people claim this wasn’t an official debut and 3750 was), it soon became apparent that THE ACACIA STRAIN weren’t like many, if any other bands.

Eschewing the dying strains of nu-metal and avoiding the rising trend of early metalcore, their sound was a punishing mix of death metal, beatdown hardcore and, at times, doom metal. Throw in an incredibly nihilistic but also intelligible frontman in Vincent Bennett and his blunt force trauma delivery and you had a very interesting prospect on your hands. Sitting amongst almost proto-deathcore (a term that Vincent has a few issues with) bands such as THE RED CHORD and DESPISED ICON, THE ACACIA STRAIN didn’t really sound like anything else at the time and mainly found a fanbase via file-sharing sites at the time.

Originally released on Devils Head Records but given a larger audience via it’s release on Prosthetic, 3750 was released on the 13th of July in 2004. With production handled by KILLSWITCH ENGAGE‘s loveable scamp/guitarist Adam D, who imbues the record with an almost dank, recorded in an abandoned asylum feel. Little is known about the recording process bar that it was a much more professional affair than the last. Things are taken up a notch from their previous record, with the instrumentals feeling tighter, more streamlined. Lacking a bassist at this point, the bass was done by Daniel Daponde and Daniel Laskiewicz, sharing responsibilities.

Opening with Carbomb, a track that is seeing a renaissance in popularity due to TikTok, it pulls no punches out of the gate. Almost painful, distorted electronics soon fall the first of many thundering breakdowns and the harrowing “THIS IS TRUE CRIME” lyric still hits like a 18 wheeler to this day. Brown Noise soon follows and you’ll find yourself making a similar face to the music as if you’d suddenly loosened your bowels. Back in 2004 this level of downtuned, lumbering heaviness was rare, with speed being favoured by the band’s contemporaries. It may seem primitive these days, but it still packs the same punch.

The title track is up next, with it’s immediate and baffling opening line of “your number is going to double the popes age”, it’s a real face-breaker of a song. This is also the first of a few songs on the record (it gets a lot more blatant later) that leans towards misogyny, a lyrical trope prevalent in this time and thankfully one THE ACACIA STRAIN have moved away from. It doesn’t get as awkward or uncomfortable as Passing The Pencil Test which comes later, but fresh ears in this time may hear it and cringe.

Smoke Ya Later represents the highest point of the record. Opening with (shocked face) almost melodic guitars, it tells the story of a murderer on the run from the police. The first time you hear this track, in the context of the full album it may give you some whiplash, as after the second chorus, you’re treat to a fast section which contains upbeat hand clapping to create a unique and insanely addictive moment of music. Business is then soon resumed with some teeth grinding breakdowns (with the drums occasionally bringing back a clap-like motif) and Vincent sounding like he’s preaching a madman’s manifesto. Despite the aforementioned Passing The Pencil Test having some now ham-fisted lyrics about a gloating murderer, it’s to this day, one of the heaviest tracks the band have ever put to record and when the “believe me, if I started murdering people, there’d be none of you left” Charles Manson sample hits before a frankly bafflingly disgusting breakdown, you’ll almost forgive the chunky misogyny in the lyrics. Almost.

The final track, still the longest song THE ACACIA STRAIN have ever done almost twenty years later, is titled Sun Poison And Skin Cancer is an early indicator into the band’s strong environmental stance, raging against corporate America and it’s slow poisoning of the planet. It doesn’t need to go on for as long as it does, but the closing samples of religious zealots and creepy news stories really leave their mark.

In a nine track album, you’d think there wouldn’t be much fat but honestly, Extreme Wrath Of The Jhiaxus is a distorted rendition of Anakin Skywalker‘s “I killed them all” speech from Attack Of The Clones (and the song name is a deep cut Transformers reference) which doesn’t really serve any purpose. It’s probably supposed to sound menacing but with the memeification of Star Wars over the last two decades, it’s impossible to take that way and even at the time, it sounded a little corny. Ambient instrumental Halycon could be removed too, sure it breaks up the sheer aural onslaught, but it’s nothing special.

The influence of 3750, for better or worse, cannot be understated. If there’s no THE ACACIA STRAIN, then there’s no EMMURE, no NO ATILLA. And while that may seem like a much better world, there’s a good argument to say there’d be no HARM’S WAY or BODYSNATCHER. There have been many pretenders to the band’s crown, but to this day, none have succeeded in dethroning them, as THE ACACIA STRAIN continues to evolve and reinvent themselves in a narrow genre, an impressive feat.

Following the album’s release in July 2004, the band continued to make a name for themselves touring, plugging the hard yards with bands from across the spectrum. Not long after the record came out, they joined another young ‘core band in AUGUST BURNS RED in America and also spent some time with hardcore film fanatics BURY YOUR DEAD. They managed to appeal to not only to fans of the growing metalcore scene, but developed a strong adoration in hardcore also. To this day, THE ACACIA STRAIN has admirers and devotees from across the heavy music spectrum and they show no signs of slowing down. It all began with 3750 though, and that some songs from an album 20 years ago still resonate with fans today is testament to it’s legacy.

3750 was originally released on July 13th, 2004 via Devil’s Head Records/Prosthetic Records.

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