Australia have produced a host of a good music, only some of which we ever really get to experience here in the UK. So if you make it this far it means you’ve done pretty well. The Amity Affliction are one of those bands, really sitting in the melodic post-hardcore camp that became so beloved around 2005.
It’s not as heard of these days, but I definitely have a soft spot for it when I hear it. Big atmospheric sounds, full on riffing guitars and a wonderful double kick pedal on the drums. The mix of screamo and a beautiful set of lungs. The Amity Affliction fulfil all that quota perfectly.
Opening track Pittsburgh has a really strong and sad tone to it. It’s a big number and it only gets bigger when they let the choir take over the main lyrics, as they chillingly echo. ‘It’s like there’s cancer in my blood, it’s like there’s water in my lungs. I can take another step, please tell me I am not undone”.
Don’t Lean On Me mixes in elements of electronica, but it seems to somehow work with the hardcore elements. It’s like the band have known when to use it and when to keep it out so that the song flows as opposed to just being a big noise mash-up.
The album ends with Give It All, a very fitting end to the album I feel from a band who clearly have given it their all in every sense of the word. The lyrics are from the heart and at times totally heart breaking, such as in My Father’s Son. But the album is a good listen and shows that Australia is just as good as anywhere else, still… now if only we got to hear it a bit more.
7/10
