Exclusive: Dr. Acula Learn “How to Kill a Monster” in New Music Video

The dead shall never truly die, which might explain the fact that metalcore has been the enduring genre of choice for swoopy-haired teenagers for nearly two decades now. Those who remember the early aughts may remember Long Island cult metalcore faves Dr. Acula, who received just as much love/hate for their keyboard-flipping member as they did for the music itself.

Throughout their first run, which ended in 2012, MetalSucks were ruthless with the band. But because the staff at MetalSucks is a benevolent band of critics and metal snobs, we’ve decided to critically reevaluate Dr. Acula and their upcoming sixth album, also called Dr. Acula, via their new music video for “How to Kill a Monster.”

First things first: Dr. Acula sound a lot more modern on “How to Kill a Monster.” The songs themselves are closer to something like Every Time I Die playing deathcore, with a notably more serious outlook. No more Ghostbusters samples, keyboards or Attila vibes. When the album was announced, bassist Rob Guarino explained Dr. Acula’s change in approach.

“To put it frankly, this chapter of Dr. Acula is a ‘party’s over’ vibe. When we started over 15 years ago, it was all fun and games. We weren’t really paying attention. Now we’ve grown, our fans have grown, and there’s a conversation to be had. Life isn’t great for most people these days and we wanted to write something that could touch on that. Those are the songs that move us personally and we wanted to challenge ourselves to make that for someone else.”

“How to Kill a Monster” reflects that same sentiment from the members of Dr. Acula, who explain in a joint statement that the new track is about politics in the United States.

“US politics have garnered a fanaticism that’s more akin to sports, except politics have real consequences on our lives. People blindly cheer on their team and loathe the opposition with a surface-level understanding of the policies they support and even less of an understanding of the effect on society. The reality is, both sides create policy and take actions that have material impact on not only the lives of the US population, but the world at large. This song is a fantastical vision of the removal of the powers-that-be.”

I guess we all really have grown up. Dr. Acula is out on October 28 via Silent Pendulum.