THE ACACIA STRAIN No matter how different we may seem on the outside, the same primal needs unite all of us. Among the essentials, we require connection to one another. The world could be teetering on the brink of extinction (and it may very well be right now!), and people would still find ways to unify… Since the turn of the century, The Acacia Strain have rallied audiences around an ever-evolving and earthquaking hybrid of existential metal, cosmic hardcore, airy doom, and snow-covered sludge. The quintet—Vincent Bennett [vocals], Devin “Big Slime” Shidaker [guitar], Griffin Landa [bass], Mike Mulholland [guitar], and Matt Guglielmo [drums]—beckon connection by asking big questions and extending a hand through the chaos and across the pit. Once again, they incite catharsis in its purest form on their thirteenth full-length offering, You Are Safe From God Here [Rise Records]. “Whether you’re 15-years-old or 50-years-old, you need something to hold onto, a place to go, and somebody to understand you, even if it’s just a guy screaming at you through a speaker,” smiles Vincent. “Listening to music is a way to get everything off your chest. It’s extremely hard to be a human being, and I don’t want anybody to feel alone.” The collective have continued to remind listeners of this truth, while churning out some of the downright heaviest riffs, grooves, and screams on the planet. Along the way, they’ve delivered staple LPs such as Wormwood [2010], Coma Witch [2014], Gravebloom [2017], It Comes In Waves [2019], Slow Decay [2020], and the double-salvo of full-length records Step Into The Light and Failure Will Follow—hailed by Revolver as “Two of 2023’s heaviest albums.” Beyond praise from Brooklyn Vegan, Decibel, and DORK, New Noise bestowed a perfect score of “5-out-of-5 stars” upon Failure Will Follow and christened it “a work of art that shows what metal bands can do and what more should start doing.” Moreover, they’ve collaborated with everyone from Courtney LaPlante of Spiritbox to Aaron Herd of Jesus Piece. Along the way, they’ve also collected nearly 100 million total streams, which is rare if not unheard of for an outfit this uncompromising. Simultaneously, the group have earned a reputation as a live force of nature, packing theaters on headline runs and even launching their own New England Sadness & Failure Festival in 2025 at the Worcester Palladium with a cohort of heavy-hitters a la On Broken Wings, Missing Link, Age of Apocalypse, and more. The musicians assembled what would become You Are Safe From God Here alongside trusted collaborator and producer Randy LeBoeuf. Once again, they expanded their sonic and thematic palette, pushing the envelope in the process. “We’ve explored ‘The End of the World’ scenario and watched it in countless movies, books, and albums, so we went in another direction,” reveals Vincent. “What happens thousands of years after everything has ended, or millions of years later on other planets and in different realities? What if there was something before earth that needed to be put in its place, but it escaped? What if the Biblical God, Muslim God, Hindu God, and every God was the same omnipresent being who got out of control and we had to do whatever we could to stay from it? I simply call it the ‘depressive dark low fantasy era of The Acacia Strain’,” he laughs. A guttural groan of feedback grumbles at the onset of the single “A CALL BEYOND,” slipping down a slope of punchy drums and incisive riffing. Vincent warns, “If you get to heaven and you don’t find me there, you are in hell.” His screams teeter on top of a trudging groove, giving way to a thrashy break punctuated by a confession, “I lost control…Six feet further from God. Six feet closer to Hell.” “The record has a dual meaning,” he notes. “In terms of the word ‘God’, I’m also thinking of things that rule your mind like depression, anxiety, or a job you hate. You’re trying to find a place away from all of that. ‘A CALL BEYOND’ points this out and embraces the fact you need to do something. It’s simply about being fucking depressed and trying to come to terms with it.” An ominous bassline wobbles beneath growls on the opener “eucharist i: BURNT OFFERING,” and the frontman assures, “You are safe from God here.” The track lunges forward in a breakneck flurry of guitar, drums, bass, and violent vocal transmissions. “We knew it had to be the first track,” he reveals. “One day, I looked up at the sky. The sun was peeking through the clouds with this ray. The cloud actually looked cracked. I took a picture, posted it on Instagram, and I used the words, ‘You are safe from God here’.” Elsewhere, “WORLD GONE COLD” layers Vincent’s venomous musings over a sparse soundscape. You can practically hear his teeth clench as he sighs, “The older I get, the less I want to be around.” “It’s personal to me, because it’s very real,” he admits. “I never wear my heart on my sleeve lyrically, but I did here.” Then, there’s the 13 minute-plus finale “eucharist ii: BLOOD LOSS.” It unfolds as the most epic exorcism in their catalog thus far, slithering through echoes of clean guitar, ethereal harmonies, and distorted convulsions twisted like a knife. “We were writing ‘eucharist ii’ and realized it used similar riffs as ‘eucharist i’, but slower,” he goes on. “It’s definitely an extension of the first part. ‘eucharist i’ is angry and aggressive. ‘eucharist ii’ is probably the saddest thing I’ve ever done in my life; it’s the end of everything.” Even if the world all goes to shit, The Acacia Strain’s music will be there for you. “I have to do this, because I’ve been doing it since I was 19,” he leaves off. “I don’t know how to do anything else. It’s hard to think of The Acacia Strain ever ending, because I need it. It’s become ingrained in us, and it’s most of my life. I’ve been in this band longer than I haven’t. So, it’s humbling to hear when people rely on us for music and shows.” Full bar available during events. Limited seating available on a first come first serve basis. All Ages unless stated otherwise. Support acts subject to change. All sales are final. No exchanges or refunds unless a show is cancelled or postponed. For common questions please see our FAQ page at waveict.com/FAQ/