The Acacia Strain– Gig Review & Photo Gallery 17th January @ Prince Bandroom, Melb VIC

The Acacia Strain
Prince Bandroom, Naarm VIC
January 17, 2024
Support: Dying Wish, Volatile Ways & Algor Mortis

It’s been a long while since I’ve been to the Prince Bandroom but it’s also been a long while since I’ve seen The Acacia Strain, so trekking down on a Wednesday night was completely worth it to see the mosh lords bring the violence. A sea of camo flooded into the venue and it was on.

Melbourne’s own Algor Mortis opened proceedings and they absolutely crushed it. I’ve seen them before and wasn’t too blown away, but this time around I was very pleasantly surprised. A plethora of slam riffs, bomb blasts and a surprise cover of Job For A Cowboy’s ‘Entombment Of A Machine’ had the room going wild. Good job, team.

I had heard great things about Volatile Ways and they were all true. The four piece wasted no time, kept the energy high and ignited the pit. On a bill like this, that’s all you can ask for and they certainly delivered.

Dying Wish hit the stage with enormous "2003 Trustkill Record CD Sampler" energy which, for those who know me, know that it is exactly what I want at all times. I absolutely thrashed their new album Symptoms Of Survival last year and I am all about the resurgence of early 2000’s Ferret/Trustkill metalcore that has been coming back around in recent years.

These guys were just great. Every member delivered unreal performances, but I was just so stoked on how tight they felt as a unit. Striking that perfect balance of enormous breakdowns, melodeath riffs and fleeting moments of melody, they absolutely nailed it.

Before I dive into the main act, I just wanted to throw a shout out to the fact that three of the four bands on this bill were femme fronted. So awesome to see and we definitely need to see more of it.

There are few songs in the world that can activate a pit as instantly as The Acacia Strain’s ‘Beast’. If that band wrote the mosh rulebook, then certainly the first rule would be "guitar riff enters by itself, and people fight for their life". It took all of 45 seconds for the Prince Bandroom to become a warzone.

With 12 albums in their catalogue now, it can’t be easy to curate a The Acacia Strain setlist. With that said, it was nice to hear classics like ‘Whoa, Shut It Down’, ‘Skynet’, ‘Dr Doom’ as well as tracks from 2020’s Slow Decay and 2023’s Step Into The Light. At least the easy part of curating such a setlist is that you just make sure it’s 50 minutes of violence inducing madness.

Vincent Bennett is one of the most terrifying vocalists in the world and he just commands a presence like no other. I have to say though, it’s great to see the man so happy, healthy and thriving. I’ve seen The Acacia Strain a number of times over the last 20 years and I can honestly say that he and the band have never sounded better. While it sucks that long-time drummer Kevin Boutot stepped away from the band last year, the band wasted no time in picking up one of the best drummers in the heavy world right now, Matt Guglielmo. He brings a whole new level of energy and technically proficient to the mix and it really heightens the impact of the bands live show, despite being a guitarist down for this tour.

The band continued to pummel with ‘Chain’, ‘Fresh Bones’, ‘Untended Graves’, ‘Crippling Poison’ before closing out with the almighty classic ‘Carbomb’. A smart move really because it just signifies with utter certainty to the crowd that the show is done and there will be no encore. We love absolutes and there is nothing more absolute in the mosh world than The Acacia Strain playing ‘Carbomb’.

The Acacia Strain have been doing their thing for a very long time and I feel very fortunate to have seen them a lot over the last 15 plus years. They are at the top of their game right now and it’s a wonderful thing to witness.

Review by Nicholas Simonsen @blackechomusic

Photo Gallery by Jade Vassiaras Insta: a.snapshot.of
Please credit Wall of Sound and Jade Vassiaras if you repost photos.

Algor Mortis

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Volatile Ways

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Dying Wish

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The Acacia Strain

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