ALBUM REVIEW: Misery – The Amity Affliction

When a band reaches their sixth album, it’s hardly surprising that they will have changed and evolved their sound from their debut. Over the previous five albums, THE AMITY AFFLICTION have certainly changed a lot. Their sixth album Misery sees the band taking the biggest jump away from their metalcore roots and delving even deeper into the sounds they began exploring on 2016’s This Could Be Heartbreak.

Album opener Ivy is fairly promising. The quieter verse with subtle guitars and synths gives way to a strong chorus. There’s a good sense of drama to the track. The track might not be very original, with the synths sounding like the sort of thing BRING ME THE HORIZON have been doing for the past five years, but it’s still an engaging opener. Sadly after this the album just falls apart.

Feels Like I’m Dying is a weird mash up of synth pop and the very occasional screamed vocals. It feels like there’s a real identity crisis going on here where the band clearly want to move in a more pop leaning direction, but still try and shoehorn in some heavier vocals. There’s nothing wrong with the band leaning more towards pop music but by the time that extremely autotuned vocal comes in on this track it becomes very clear there is nothing original about this move.

There’s no doubting the authenticity of what THE AMITY AFFLICTION are trying with this album. It doesn’t feel like a desperate attempt to become more mainstream as there are plenty of moments where they do stick to their earlier sound. Holier Than Heaven is one of the most traditional songs for the band but it just feels so lethargic and is filled with cliched lyrics. The problem with this album is entirely in its execution. Every songs feels so one paced and lifeless. The songs just start to blur together when so many of them follow such a similar pattern.

There is no doubt that a lot of emotion is poured into the lyrics, the band do cover some dark themes. The problem is on several tracks the vocals just never manage to convey this emotion and when it should really tug at your heartstrings it just falls flat. The production seems to suck so much of the emotion out at times as well. Everything is so slick and polished that it just sounds hollow.

Bands experimenting is always a risk and sometimes bold moves really can pay off. Unfortunately this just isn’t the case for THE AMITY AFFLICTION. Whilst Misery is mostly new territory for them it is still hardly original. If the execution had been better this would have been more forgivable. But none of the choruses are particularly catchy and on the moments where it does go heavier it just feels like a watered down version of their previous sound. Perhaps next time they might be able to pull it off better but for now this feels like it could be the biggest misstep in their career.

Rating: 4/10

Misery is out now via Roadrunner Records.

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