HYLI Vol. LXVI- The Acacia Strain and Fugazi
It's Playlist Week: Andy sent Patrick a playlist of songs by Massachusetts metal-core act The Acacia Strain and Patrick sent Andy a playlist of songs from DC post-hardcore legends Fugazi
Not much of an intro here this week. I (Patrick) started running again after doing a half-marathon last year and kinda dropping off after that and, now with the baby, I would like to be healthy again so I don’t die when I’m 50. Thus, running again, as well as going to the gym regularly. I got under the squat rack while listening to Velveteen, the new record by Canadian alt-rock band PONY, which I loved. Great lifting record with tons of cool riffs and massive, immediate hooks. I’ve also been pulling all of my limited amounts of hair out watching the NBA Playoffs. Two of my least favorite teams in all of sports (Boston Celtics & Miami Heat) make up half of the remaining teams in the playoffs. I need Nikola Jokic to step on the necks of the Heat in the Finals. Jimmy Butler is the basketball equivalent of the Worst Person You Know Made a Great Point meme. The basketball karma gods cannot reward this kind of behavior. Go Nuggz. Hope You Like It.
The Acacia Strain
Andy: We’ve been doing this newsletter for a year and a half, right? You’d assume after being friends with someone for a decade plus and writing about music weekly with them you’d have them figured out. Nope. Patrick continues to be a walking enigma. He randomly texted me “The Acacia Strain is my AOTY so far lmao” which feels like an insane sentence to come from him. I’ve never heard him mention them once and heard him say multiple times he dislikes similar bands. It was shocking to come from him.
Anyway, The Acacia Strain is, at this point, 22 years into their career. Somehow, against all odds, albums 11 and 12 are their best. How does that work really (Patrick: truly puzzling to me)? They’ve always been good-to-great metal/deathcore and they dropped an A+ Doom album and an A+ Sludge album on the same day. I’m not complaining. I love it. To center Patrick a bit, I gave him an 11-song 40-minute “History of TAS” playlist recapping the best songs from their career up until now. I predict he won’t love most of it (Patrick: you just wrote a paragraph about how I’m soooo unpredictable) but then he will be like “I loved the breakdown in Dr. Doom” or something that makes 0 sense to come from him (Patrick: spoilers but I will NOT be saying that).
After listening to this playlist, I’m even more impressed with where the band is at this moment. They’ve been a consistently great band for two decades? Who else does that (Patrick: Drive-By Truckers)? “3750” is a classic. “JFC” resulted in one of the scariest pits I’ve ever been in. “Tactical Nuke” is ‘bringing the riff back but slower’ to an illegal level (Patrick: soooo true). I can’t believe these guys changed sounds a few times and nailed it each time. I was a little burned out on them during the Gravebloom era but then they pulled me back in. The scene takes them for granted because they’ve been consistently good for so long. I don’t think they get the respect they deserve. I’ve been guilty of this also. This full movement to a Sludge/Doom sound is so so so so good. Both of the albums they dropped this year (Step Into The Light and Failure Will Follow) are Album of the Year contenders.
Long Live The Acacia Strain. Hope You Like It.
Patrick: So, as Andy stated, the Acacia Strain released two albums a week and a half ago and, to me, one of them was just Fine (Step Into the Light) and one of them was Great (Failure Will Follow). There’s a song on the latter, “Bog Walker,” that is one of my favorite pieces of music this year and the closest thing I’ve heard to Sleep’s “Dopesmoker,” maybe ever. I had never heard a single Acacia Strain song prior to that one a few weeks ago, despite hearing of the name for probably a decade now, so naturally Andy seemed like the guy to hit up for an intro and, thus, Playlist Week.
I would say I’m half glad I asked, as half of these songs rock me to my core, and half disappointed, since the other half are kind of exactly why I avoided this band for a decade. Let’s start with the bad: I don’t think I like whatever this band was when they first formed. The first 1/3 of this playlist, consisting of songs from their second, third and fourth records, doesn’t really do anything for me with the exception of “3750,” a fun song kinda bordering on hardcore. “JFC” seems like one of their first “hits,” so I realize how alone I am on this take, but it’s the exact kind of vocals some of these bands use that I absolutely hate. Idk. It just isn’t for me. I don’t think I’m a deathcore guy (Andy: I weep for you). Death metal and hardcore are church and state for me.
“Beast” is where I kinda started to turn and enjoy myself. Overall, the usage of sound clips or whatever by this band is a little hokey to me (Andy: love them), but the songs really start to rip on Wormwood. The second Wormwood track, “Tactical Nuke,” fully won me over. The riff at the end of that song went on so long that there was a point where I thought “surely this is the last time they’ll slow it down,” and then they had a pause and slowed it down to play the riff again but like at half the speed of the last time and 1/10th or whatever the speed the first time they played it. I laughed out loud. It rocked. It conditioned me to think “well, okay, at this point they’re going to go even slower again, right?” and then the song was over. A real rollercoaster of a song ending. “Doomblade” and “Cauterizer” were better than the early stuff but not super notable to me. The last couple of tracks on Andy’s playlist are how I know he’s one of my best friends, though. “Worthless,” “Our” and “Crippling Poison” fully get me. I texted the refrain to “Worthless” (“So fucking worthless, you serve no purpose”) to Andy and he was offended, which is proof to me he’s a fake fan and doesn’t know this band at all (Andy: to be fair he often texts mean stuff like this to me). “Our” is the only song on here that seemed to recall the two newest albums, which of course made it my favorite track here, and “Crippling Poison” is the only one that leans fully into hardcore and made me begin to understand why every Boston hxc bro I’ve encountered online loves this band that sounds more like Whitechapel (Andy: they sound nothing like Whitechapel. This is how you get a Whitechapel album next week…) or whatever than any hardcore band.
Again, I wouldn’t say I loved everything here, but I fully appreciate this band now because of the tracks that I do love. I also love a band showing growth. If the newest records are any indication, I might continue on this path into being a full-blown Acacia Strain fan, which seemed impossible a month ago. Fucking hell “Bog Walker” is so sick.
Fugazi
Patrick: I’ve kinda tip-toed around Fugazi a few times for this newsletter, never sending Andy a proper Fugazi album, but sending him a few bands that were either similar peers of Fugazi’s or bands that draw direct inspiration from Fugazi.
I like Fugazi a lot. I wouldn’t say I *love* Fugazi a lot but I certainly like them quite a bit. While I’m not as in love with them as every other dude in their 30s on the internet, they are undeniably an Important Band and both one that my friend Andy needs to know. Additionally, they are one that, in my opinion, doesn’t have a single defining album, which fits the playlist mode we are in this week. Some people love the first two records (13 Songs and Repeater) and some really ride for the band’s final album, The Argument. Personally, their third record, In On the Kill Taker, is The One for me but I can acknowledge that seems a bit takey.
I feel like you’re either a Mackaye Man or a, uhh, Guy (pronounced “Gee”) Guy. I am a Guy Guy. I find his tracks to have much more interesting guitar parts, whereas Ian Mackaye’s tracks are probably a bit more iconic but also a bit more straightforward. Not trying to bash - “Waiting Room” is iconic for a reason and “Cashout” is the best RHCP song. I just personally prefer Guy’s more angular indie style to Ian’s power-chord-reliant more traditional punk style. “Cassavetes” and “Walken’s Syndrome” are my two favorite Fugazi songs, with Brendan Canty’s drum fill and Guy Picciotto’s riff melding together on “Cassavetes” in a way that almost makes the band’s importance self-evident. I think there’s plenty of stuff on here that Andy will find interesting and it’ll be fun for him to track the band’s progression in a similar way to how I got to with Acacia Strain this week. So many of the non-metal bands that Andy loves feel directly indebted to Fugazi (Andy: makes sense tbh). Hope He Likes It.
Andy: Doing this newsletter has had the opposite impact on Patrick and I. While I am more confused than ever on what Patrick will enjoy, I feel like he is really narrowing in on being able to tell if I’d be into a band. He really nailed it tbh. I don’t think I will become a “30-year-old Fugazi internet guy” but the band rules. I can definitely see why they've got such a dedicated, annoying online fan base.
From just this playlist I think I’m an early-to-mid-career Fugazi guy (Patrick: yes same). The energy in these songs is contagious. Aggressive Punk-adjacent assertive vocals, rapid-fire guitar riffs, and a solid rhythm section - the guys really figured out how to Do It™. What is It? Patrick, you’re starting to figure it out please explain in great detail (Patrick: early post-hardcore and hardcore when there wasn’t really a formula yet and it was just kids in basements). Thank you.
“Waiting Room” seems like a classic. Is it a classic (Patrick: be serious lol)? “Turnover” might be the best song here. The three songs from In On the Kill Taker are the most fun. Just relentless. I really enjoy “Long Distance Runner” as well. It starts to taper off a bit but not by much. I think if these albums dropped during my teenage years I’d be very annoying online about them. I get it.
I Loved It (Patrick: i love my friend andy).