Slow Decay
| The Acacia Strain
Slow Decay
AllMusic characterizes the band's musical style as "utiliz[ing] a bone-crushing rhythm section, apocalyptic samples, and a unique triple-guitar assault to deliver their signature blend of hardcore punk, noise, death metal and doom metal."[5] The site's review of Wormwood elaborates on the band's sound as "an inelegant and unstoppable juggernaut fueled by memories of the unchecked aggression unleashed on the world by the likes of Sepultura and Pantera."
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Critic Reviews
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Louder Sound
Whoever conjured the ‘quality over quantity’ mantra never expected the boundless energy of The Acacia Strain that can produce such a tight, mature and timely record in such a short space of time, proving the future of music isn’t as uncertain as it feels right now.
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Kill Your Stereo
‘Slow Decay’ is the new essential Acacia Strain record, rivaling the multiple resonant and mosh classics that they have spawned over the years. I am strongly, selfishly, hoping that these guys don’t hang up their towels for quite a while, as ‘Slow Decay’ proves that TAS are still one of the coolest heavy bands around.
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Blabbermouth
"Slow Decay" proves that they are enjoying the creative process more than ever and making the best music of their careers as a result. We're all still fucked, but the soundtrack is killer. It's been that kind of year.
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Cryptic Rock
Slow Decay is a defining moment for The Acacia Strain. It shows their growth as artists while paying tribute to their upbringing. Altogether, it is a depiction of their strength and cements their place in the scene. A brilliant display of art.
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Deadpress
'Slow Decay’ is by-and-large The Acacia Strain doing what they do best, but the more casual and curious listeners will also have plenty to get their teeth into.
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New Transendence
The Acacia Strain have proven themselves as overlords of contemporary heavy music, and Slow Decay is among the biggest moves they’ve made in asserting their devastating dominion.
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Metal Noise
an album that has been skillfully knitted together in its harrowing nature as a concept album, while managing to avoid sounding disjointed, despite having a quartet of guest vocalists appear on it.
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Sputnik Music
The Acacia Strain is stronger than ever on their 10th LP.
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Distorted Sound Magazine
Slow Decay shows a band who are regarded as veterans of the scene with a new sense of artistic direction and a fresh fire in their collective gut. THE ACACIA STRAIN have always been regarded as a reliable source of heavy music, however nowadays they have shifted in to the role of trailblazing sonic adventurers and long may it continue. A triumphant outing.
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Noob Heavy
While I do hold a lot of positive bias towards this band, I think I can almost objectively say this is a damn fine piece of metal that all types of different metal fans could get something out of. There’s a lot to like here, and I expect to see it somewhere on my album of the year list.
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Mind Noise Network
After everything they’ve been through over the years, this record feels like a real victory, solidifying their standing as one of the best, and most forward-thinking bands that metalcore has to offer.
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Noizze
For the first time in their career, The Acacia Strain have crafted something that feels thematically weighty as well as just musically, containing a sense of genuine heaviness beyond the pummelling riffs and double-kicks. They’ve always been heavy, but on Slow Decay it feels justified and earned.
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Original Rock
The album crushes every track of doom and disaster to challenge reality with death metal emotion and apocalyptic power. The Acacia Strain bring the album to reality weaving and shattering expectations to immerse any listeners in the alternate universe of fear and hell.
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Ultimate Guitar
Overall, this is a fairly good deathcore record that sticks largely to the usual conventions of the style, only aiming to do as good of a job with the elements they know, and in that way, it succeeds greatly.
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Ghost Cult Magazine
That album may have had a bit of a shock revealing and didn’t put up the biggest streaming numbers, but it had these Bay Staters sounding as vital and aggressive as they did on Wormwood or The Dead Walk.
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Loud Magazine
This album is a good chapter to step in on if you have never heard The Acacia Strain before – it shows off all of their best assets. For fans, it may come across as a part two of last year’s surprise release, a darkness against something darker. In any case, this is another showing from a band that is almost twenty years into their career and putting out their strongest material to date.
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Rock N Load Magazine
All in all, The Acacia Strain have created a fantastic album with Slow Decay. With pounding drums, groove-filled bass and insane riffs all tied together by an insanely tight vocal performance across every track there isn’t a single moment of the album that didn’t have my full undivided attention. Slow Decay is a pure masterclass in how to make a Hardcore album.
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V13
In summing up, The Slow Decay is everything you could want from The Acacia Strain. It’s as subtle has a sledgehammer tooth extraction, suffocatingly heavy and denser than the New Dehli smog. If you’re stuck at home and want the perfect soundtrack to these crazy times, let Vincent Bennett and co. keep you company.
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