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Thursday, August 28th 2008
THE ACACIA STRAIN debuts at #2 on Billboard new artist chart
Massachusetts’ heavy hitters THE ACACIA STRAIN have cracked into the
Billboard charts at #2 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and #107 on the
Billboard Top 200 chart with the first week sales of the band’s new album,
‘Continent,’ which saw an August 19 release through Prosthetic Records.
Scanning nearly 5,600 copies its first week, ‘Continent,’ is the follow-up
to 2006’s ‘The Dead Walk,’ and was recorded with producer Zeuss (Hatebreed,
Shadows Fall) and features in-depth artwork from Paul Romano (Trivium, The
Red Chord, Mastodon) on both CD and vinyl platforms.
“We’re not really sure how to feel,” frontman Vincent Bennett said.
“Obviously, we’re really excited we made charts and very appreciative to
everyone that bought the record this first week, but at same time it’s
really hard to sell records with all the people downloading nowadays. We’re
really happy that people still went out and bought it did and we hope they
enjoy it. To the people that downloaded it, we hope you come out to one the
shows and at least sing along and have a good time.”
“‘Continent’ is basically my absolute disgust towards everything,” vocalist
Bennett says of the new record. “The whole album is based on the concept of
nihilism. The world as we know it was a fluke and there is no meaning in
anything. It is about pulling yourself out of society because everything
makes you sick. It is about purposefully leaving everything behind and
destroying everything you think you love. It is about hatred, anger, rage
and resentment. Nothing is sure to me anymore. Everything has been tainted.
This album is pretty much exonerating myself from it all.”
Meanwhile, THE ACACIA STRAIN has been confirmed as a support band for
Unearth’s upcoming tour throughout the month of October. “The Unearth tour
is basically the support tour we have been waiting for,” Bennett continues.
“The lineup is one of the most diverse we have been a part of since Sounds
Of The Underground [in 2007] and I can’t wait to get out there and give what
we have to offer. We are going to be playing a good number of new songs so
dig in and learn those words.”
“I hope everyone has been enjoying the TAS TV skits we worked on,” Bennett
adds, available here (
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.showvids&friendID=1249590&
n=1249590&MyToken=e23f97ac-4428-4181-abcb-79b2b0d261a1). “Expect more stuff
like that from us in the future. Boredom is easily quelled by a video
camera, and we are bored 95% of our lives. See you on the road!”
THE ACACIA STRAIN on tour
9/20 Clifton Park, NY – Northern Lights (WZMR Home Town Throwdown)
(with Unearth, Protest The Hero, The Acacia Strain, Whitechapel, Gwen Stacy)
10/01 Baltimore, MD – Sonar
10/02 Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of the Living Arts
10/03 Willimasville, NY – Club Infinity
10/04 Cincinnati, OH – Bogart’s
10/05 Cleveland, OH – House of Blues
10/06 Louisville, KY – Uncle Pleasants (The Acacia Strain, Whitechapel,
locals only)
10/07 Chicago, IL – House of Blues
10/08 Sauget, IL – Pop’s
10/09 Lawrence, KS – Granada Theatre
10/10 Englewood, CO – Gothic Theatre
10/11 Salt Lake City, UT – The Avalon
10/12 Orangevale, CA – The Boardwalk
10/13 San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
10/14 West Hollywood, CA – House of Blues
10/15 Tempe, AZ – The Marquee
10/17 San Antonio, TX – White Rabbit
10/18 Lubbock, TX – the Foundation
10/19 Houston, TX – Warehouse Live
10/20 Dallas, TX – House of Blues
10/22 Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
10/23 Saint Petersburg, FL – The State
10/24 Fort Lauderdale, FL – Revolution
10/25 Jacksonville, FL – Freebird Live
10/26 Charleston, SC – Music Farm
10/27 Augusta, GA – Club Hollywood (no Unearth or Protest The Hero)
10/28 Charlotte, NC – Tremont Music Hall
10/29 Norfolk, VA – NorVa
10/30 New York, NY – The Fillmore at Irving Plaza
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“The quartet’s fourth album is a roiling stew of death metal and hardcore,
coursing with jagged, stop-start riffs, violent breakdowns and frontman
Vincent Bennett’s Cookie Monster ranting..this is one fearsome, genuinely
disturbing work. Be afraid.” – Mean Street
“Technically adept, and perhaps even challenging to the unseasoned metal
listener, The Dead Walk is clearly the strongest effort to date from New
England scene stars The Acacia Strain.” – Alternative Press magazine
“It could be one of the big extreme releases of the year…the guys have
streamlined their sound and their lineup, creating a solid disc heavy on
breakdowns and with no shortage of metal riffs all over the place.” – Brave
Words & Bloody Knuckles magazine
“Quite clearly the art of sophisticated bloodthirsty tech metal is entering
a new renaissance period and it is albums like this that are leading the
charge.” – The PRP