Every other year, right around this time, we are re-invited to theorize that Vincent Bennet is actually the one in control of Lucifers PR, and the invite to listen to his bands album always dominates the entire industry and makes people realize that nothing is original and everyone is just ripping off The Acacia Strain.
The band has announced their new album, You Are Safe From God Here, due to drop, October 24th, via Rise Records. They have also thrown down a new single, “A Call Beyond,” and a video, game show-themed that is more Black Mirror than Family Feud; in which you get to see an Upstate New York cast get completely obliterated. Which is maybe a tad better than watching them get convicted as predators and jam out in a prison yard, like in time past. We get to see a resurgence of Vincent’s epic gallow humor personality and obliteration of all human optimism.
“This record is unapologetically The Acacia Strain,” the band states, in a tone that feels less like a marketing quote and more like a weather warning. “It’s angry. It’s sad. It made us uncomfortable. We hope it makes you feel the same.”
Let’s be real. Continent was the soundtrack to throwing a cinderblock through your own windshield. Wormwood sounded like the soundtrack to sleep paralysis. Gravebloom was the sound of a dying star giving up halfway through its explosion. And then, in 2023, the band dropped the dual threat of Step Into The Light and Failure Will Follow — a bifurcated sonic experiment that was basically the musical equivalent of a slow-motion building collapse scored in reverse.
You Are Safe From God Here doesn’t split the difference — it eats both halves and becomes a third thing entirely. The Acacia Strain aren’t just playing doom and death and hardcore anymore. They’re weaving the ashes of those genres into something more primal, something eschatological. It’s less “music” and more “end-of-all-flesh communiqué.” Vincent Bennett remains the high priest of vitriol, preaching from a pulpit built from human bone and upstate New York viper venom. His lyrics still read like suicide notes scribbled on the back of ancient scrolls. His delivery is still the kind of thing that reminds you why your therapist doesn’t always return your call.
And yet, amidst the chaos, there’s a cohesion, a kind of whispered implication that maybe this time, TAS isn’t just trying to destroy the world. Maybe they’re exorcising it. Or maybe they’re just making damn sure it never forgets what it did. The album also features appearances from Brody King (of God’s Hate / AEW notoriety), Colin Young (Twitching Tongues, pre-apocalyptic philosopher), and Sunny Faris, further grounding the project in the band’s long history of curating contributors like pallbearers to their sonic funeral procession.
Track List:
01) eucharist i: BURNT OFFERING
02) A CALL BEYOND
03) SWAMP MENTALITY
04) THE MACHINE THAT BLEEDS (Feat. Brody King + Colin Young)
05) MOURNING STAR
06) I DON’T THINK YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE IT
07) ACOLYTE OF THE ONE
08) AEONIAN WRATH
09) HOLY MOONLIGHT
10) SACRED RELIC
11) WORLD GONE COLD
12) eucharist ii: BLOOD LOSS (Feat. Sunny Faris)
The accompanying tour reads like a surgical strike across a country trying to pretend it’s not collapsing. You will scream. You will sweat. You will walk out of the venue feeling like the last man standing after a televised execution. And if The Acacia Strain has anything to do with it — you’ll love every second of it.
Tour Dates
07/29 Detroit, MI @ Saint Andrew’s Hall
07/30 Joliet, IL @ The Forge
07/31 Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
08/01 Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theater
08/02 Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall
08/03 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
08/05 Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
08/06 Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
08/07 Sacramento, CA @ Ace Of Spades
08/08 Los Angeles, CA @ 1720
08/09 San Diego, CA @ SOMA
08/10 Mesa, AZ @ The Nile Theater
08/12 Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
08/13 Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
08/15 Tampa, FL @ The Orpheum
08/16 Atlanta, GA @ Altar @ The Masquerade
08/17 Charlotte, NC @ The Underground
08/19 Richmond, VA @ Canal Club
08/20 Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Soundstage
08/21 New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
08/22 Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
08/23 Worcester, MA @ New England Sadness + Failure Fest
Feature Image Photo Credit: Stu McDonald
