The Acacia Strain—Vincent Bennett [vocals], Kevin Boutot [drums], Devin Shidaker [guitar], Griffin Landa [bass], and Tom “The Hammer” Smith, Jr. [guitar]—has shared the video for “One Thousand Painful Stings.” The song, which features Spiritbox singer Courtney LaPlante, appears on the band’s eighth full-length album Slow Decay, out now through Rise Records.
In lieu of an actual live show, the clip is a socially distanced sign of the times — featuring the band members performing in fuzzy onesies, substituting pet cats for instruments and Swiffers for mic stands, LaPlante’s living room mosh, and much more. It’s truly a hilarious (and thoroughly metal) way to cap off what has been quite a tumultuous year.
“Having a record come out during a pandemic is hard,” says Bennett, who also directed the video. “No touring, no playing the new songs, no nothing. All of us live far away from one another, so we cannot do a cool livestream, either. We couldn’t even get together to make a music video, so we did this! Stay safe, stay sane, and stay away from each other!”