Live Review : The Acacia Strain + Fuming Mouth + Judiciary @ Academy 3, Manchester on July 3rd 2024

It would have been eminently straightforward to stick identikit deathcore acts bands on this bill and placate the two-stepping masses. However, taking the easy route through life has never been how The Acacia Strain have rolled. As Vincent Burnett, there are lusciously charismatic frontman, intones during their set, this is all about being surrounded by your friends and Judiciary and Fuming Mouth are very much part of their posse, even if they do play significantly different variants of extreme metal. In fact, tonight is a masterclass in how diverse American extreme metal has become and anybody who dares to proclaim that it all sounds the same is simply not listening hard enough.

Judiciary combine those core ingredients of thrash and death metal in a way that is highly reminiscent of the new wave of American heavy metal flag bearers Chrimaria. The vocals are harsh and the blast beats pounding, but there is a vibrant technicality to their pulsating riffs. They have a rhythmic groove to them that feels calculated and aesthetically orchestrated. It's heavy but in a contained and coordinated way. There is a lot going on within each individual guitar passage and they fling out notes like confetti.

They seem genuinely pleased to be here. Their onstage exclamations that Manchester was the show they were most looking forward to prove to be more than just hollow platitudes when they state that their last visit was as support to local heroes Guilt Trip. We obviously made quite the impression on them, as Jake Collinson keeps bellowing that he knows that we can be louder and more ferocious. By the end of the set the pit stretches all the way to the mixing desk and there is a small but perfectly formed contingent of high kickers having the veritable time of their lives.

Fuming Mouth are an altogether different proposition. They jettison any sense of technicality, instead opting to create a primal and guttural noise that drips with simplicity and malevolence. There is a raw untamed energy about what they're doing. Everything is boiled down to harsh throbbing riffs and screamed vocals. The organic minimalism of their approach is simply stunning. The hardcore kids give up any attempt to skank as the tempo becomes slower and slower. This is pure metal, but metal at its most unrefined and agitational.

Mark Whelan joins in the reminiscing of past visits. But their last stopover in our city was only back in January, headlining the Star and Garter with Celestial Sanctuary in tow. It is an experience that has left a mark on them for probably the wrong reasons, as it is described as being cold, incredibly cold. They also big up their impending appearance at Damnation Festival in November, imploring those present to pick up the last remaining tickets to this veritable feast of extreme metal.

There is a harsh and stark beauty to music that is this stripped back and basic. There are no distracting bells and whistles. Instead, we get visceral, brutal riff after visceral brutal riff. It's crude and monumentally unsophisticated in its presentation, but it is brilliant and rampant in both its authenticity and intensity. It is also startlingly unifying. As said the hardcore faithful have stopped chasing wasps and instead as one, we bang our heads and just let the corrosive wonder of the music wash over us.

Mark is as honest and emotive a frontman as you will find. When he opens his mouth, he is not telling us what he thinks we want to hear, he is telling us what he knows we need to hear. He talks openly about beating cancer and the need for us as a community to come together and embrace as opposed to entrench our differences. His testimony about the former leads into ‘I’ll Find You’, singularly the best track they play tonight. It is a nightmarish reimagining of that old standard, the thrash ballad. It is brim-full of cathartic emotion but noisy enough not to become maudlin or narcissistic. It also builds in majestic wonder as each primordial riff slams into the other. That Damnation appearance can't come quick enough

By the time that The Acacia Strain hit the stage the room has impressively filled up. Vincent Bennett keeps expressing his gratitude that we have come out en masse on a Wednesday night and it is obvious that there is a hell of a lot of love for these deathcore pioneers. They open with the first two tracks from the frankly astonishing “Wormwood”, teasing us that we might well be in for a complete rendition of their 2010 masterpiece. During ‘The Beast’, Vincent hands the mic to the front row who word perfect scream the lyrics back at him.

They tear through their 12-song set with a manic ferocity. Vincent marshals the pit like a deranged ringmaster, constantly encouraging it to go faster. He invites the ferment fan boys and girls upfront to come and join him and there is a continual battle between the under-siege security and a single-minded crowd with the shared ulterior motive of getting onto the stage. Every now and again a valiant soul makes it and happily two-steps until they hurl themselves back into the melee. 

They may well have wooed us with the opening volley of their most revered record, but after the fourth track ‘Ramirez’ they subsequently don't go anywhere near “Wormwood”. Instead we get a sporadic and rather random race through their back catalogue. With twelve albums over twenty-two years to choose from here seems to be very little rhyme or reason about what has made the cut. However by this point the reverential audience just want music to run around in a circle to. Every song, be it ‘Whoa! Shut it Down’ from 2006’s the “Dead Walk” or ‘Chain’ from last year’s “Step into the Light” is consumed like it is a dose of golden nectar.

The pace is unrelenting as is, surprisingly, the feeling of blatant positivity. Vincent on numerous occasions states that this is all about building core memories and making new friends. For a band that has specialised in singing about the depravity and utter stupidity of humankind, the whole evening has an uplifting and euphoric feel to it. There is an air of belonging and cathartic release. There is nowhere else on earth that the crowd want to be then slamming into each other as Vincent screams out the words to ‘Carbomb’.

But that is it. ‘Carbomb’ is where it ends. Literally 35 minutes after they took the stage they leave it. There are shocked and pleafull cries of one more song, but the house lights come on and we are transported back to our drab realities. The Acacia Strain were as stunningly good as you would expect a band that has honed it individualistic sound over two decades to be. But just over half an hour for a headline slot feels rather a swizz, especially when you consider the magnitude of their back catalogue. They state that they will be back in February, let's just hope we get a much longer performance.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
The Acacia Strain + Fuming Mouth + Judiciary