THE ACACIA STRAIN’S “THE MOUTH OF THE RIVER”: HAVE I MENTIONED HOW MUCH I LOVE VINCENT BENNETT?

I know I’ve said things like this before, but The Acacia Strain’s Vincent Bennett is like the polar opposite of Pig Destroyer’s J.R. Hayes: his lyrics are more blunt than what I just smoked, and take, like, zero thought to understand. But, somewhat oddly I admit, it’s that very lack of subtlety that I enjoy about these lyrics; there is always at least one line per TAS album that I know I’m going to be quoting often for the foreseeable future (previous examples include the very creepy threat “I know where you live and I see where you sleep,” “When you’re dead you’re done you’re dead you died,” and “I hate everything you love,” which I should probably have tattooed on my forehead).

And hey, guess what? “The Mouth of the River,” the just-released new song from The Acacia Strain, contains such a lyric!

The truth is, I can’t even quite make out the very first part of the lyric, but the way Bennett phrases his latest vow to completely annihilate an enemy is really enough to get an A++++ WDBWA from me:

“I am the [unintelligible], so I am the fucking boss
You will re-think what you’ve said when you realize how much blood you’ve lost”

I’m not even sure I can articulate why I think this lyric is so badass. Part of me thinks that, on a very basic level, it’s the incredibly frightening level of confidence that Bennett projects (note that he’s predicting the future — this is something that he’s sure is going to happen). But I’m sure part of it is also that his lyrics are just plain hilarious, the way, say, Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives is hilarious — it’s just SO violent and SO ridiculous that laughter is the only rational reaction… even if that laughter is homicidal.

Check out the song below. The Acacia Strain’s new album, Death is the Only Mortal, comes out October 9 on Rise Records. The band begins a co-headlining tour with Veil of Maya in November; get dates here.

-AR