The Acacia Strain are titans of deathcore; they helped kindle the genre in the early 2000s and still carry the torch today. For this band, it is not enough to regurgitate their original sound album after album. Rather, The Acacia Strain seek out the freshest and most powerful acts in heavy music today and incorporate their sound into their own, reviving their infectious brand of deathcore time and time again. In an interview with Revolver, vocalist Vincent Bennett describes how he wants to “draw inspiration from where the most passion is, where the heart of the music is and where the most creativity is.” The Acacia Strain have always been willing to experiment and that shows more strongly than ever in their release from May this year: a two album set made up of Step Into The Light and Failure Will Follow. The former sees the band take a strong hardcore influence, pounding out 10 crushing bangers in just 24 minutes. The latter, which is the focus of this review, takes a much different approach and brings the band’s sound to exciting new territory.

Failure Will Follow is unlike anything that The Acacia Strain have put out before. The album lasts 39 minutes, but contains only three tracks. In each, the band applies their powerful deathcore sound to doom, sludge and stoner metal of all things. This isn’t something completely new for The Acacia Strain: many of their past songs have used slow, stomping doom metal riffs in order to change things up. This time, however, the doom isn’t there to add spice, it’s the main event. What comes out of this doomy deep dive is an uncompromising, oppressive experience that oozes a feeling of dread. It’s crushingly heavy and manages to keep things interesting, even as it moves at a glacial pace. 

The album begins with “Pillar of Salt,” which lasts 11 minutes and mixes death-doom songwriting (think Primitive Man) with the sound of modern deathcore. After a haunting synth intro, in come grinding low-end guitars which sound like a bad omen and it only gets darker from there. Bennett’s growls are so low and inhuman, it sounds like they come from the ninth circle of hell. Appearances of spoken-word (from Full of Hell’s Dylan Walker), clean guitar and clean singing (from an uncredited female vocalist) add some dark-feeling melody to the song, but the majority is a grinding monolith of despair.

The next song, “Bog Walker,” brings immediate contrast to the darkness of the previous track. It opens with a tasty stoner metal riff courtesy of bassist Griffin Landa. Fans of Electric Wizard and Bongzilla, rejoice. The song throws in a spooky spoken-word section, a guitar solo and some heavy death-doom as well which gives the song dynamism. These songwriting elements balloon the length to 17 minutes, which might make it tiresome for some listeners. However, it also might be a plus for hardcore long song enjoyers.

The album ends with “Basin of Vows,” which immediately bludgeons the listener with another thick deathcore/death-doom breakdown. The song takes some clear sludge influence in the following riff and later on brings back the ending riff from “Bog Walker,” tying the album together before it is done. The guest vocals from Primitive Man’s Ethan McCarthy make things even more demonic. This song is perhaps the least melodic of the three, but listeners who love slow, sludgy deathcore breakdowns will have a great time.

Across its three tracks, Failure Will Follow presents a grim vision both musically and lyrically. Even in its most melodic moments, there is a feeling of a powerful doom that is about to fall. That promise always comes true with soul-crushing breakdowns afterward. The lyrics focus on serious, irreparable failures which range from broken relationships to the demise of humanity and these fit the monolithic abysses of sound that The Acacia Strain plunge into. The atmosphere within each track is consistent and artful, which shows that this is not just some deathcore band playing doom metal for fun. The album is replayable too, with the appeal reaching deeper than the novelty of its sound. Lovers of death doom and of slow deathcore breakdowns should try the first and last tracks and anyone looking for a long stoner groove-out will have a great time with “Bog Walker.”