Massachusetts metalcore band The Acacia Strain shared a homemade new video for “One Thousand Painful Stings,” featuring Spiritbox vocalist Courtney LaPlante. The song was released on their last full-length, Slow Decay, in July. 

It’s an existential song about the failures of the human race, but the video takes a different tone. Vincent Bennett lip syncs the opening line, “We set the world on fire with a touch” while using a Swiffer mop like it’s a microphone. Other shenanigans include guitarist Devin Shidaker shredding while on the toilet, bassist Griffin Landa playing acoustic guitar by a patio firepit, LaPlante lip syncing Bennett’s parts with a drawn-on moustache and most of the band pretending to play their dogs and cats like they’re guitars.

Bennett is credited as the director of the social distancing-friendly video, “Having a record come out during a pandemic is hard,” he said. “No touring, no playing the new songs, no nothing. All of us live far away from one another, so we cannot do a cool livestream, either. We couldn’t even get together to make a music video, so we did this! Stay safe, stay sane, and stay away from each other!”

Even ignoring lyrics like the chorus’ “We called/No one answered/Total fucking failures,” it’s a heavy song. The guitars have a thick tone and switch between riffs while keeping up with drummer Kevin Boutot’s double-time kicks. LaPlante takes the cooldown, singing during the outro along with some atmospheric guitar equally drenched in reverb. 

Slow Decay is The Acacia Strain’s eighth studio album after December 2019’s It Comes In Waves. They’ve been able to maintain a consistent career since their debut, 2002’s …And Life Is Very Long.

Spiritbox is an up-and-coming metal trio made up of LaPlante, guitarist Michael Stringer and a new addition, drummer Ryan Loerke. They’ve released four singles since adding Loerke to the lineup, “Rule of Nines,” “Blessed Be,” “Holy Roller” and “Constance.” On the last two singles, they’ve moved from their metalcore roots to clean vocal alternative metal.

Photo credit: Sharon Alagna