ALBUM REVIEW: Not Without My Ghosts – The Amity Affliction
Australian metalcore band THE AMITY AFFLICTION have been innovating ever since they released their debut album Severed Ties back in 2008. They followed this up with 2010’s Youngbloods, and have earned critical acclaim for albums such as 2016’s This Could Be Heartbreak. After changing some of their sound to include some electronic elements on 2018’s Misery, and having somewhat polarized critics with their 2020 follow-up Everyone Loves You…Once You Leave Them, the quartet return with their eighth album, Not Without My Ghosts.
“Show me your god,” whispers a voice on the opening track of the same name before the song explodes into a face-melting rage. Lead vocalist Joel Birch sounds as good as he did back in 2008, and his screams perfectly compliment bassist and co-vocalist Ahren Stringer. Unfortunately, despite some orchestral elements and a fantastic bridge which is made up of gang vocals, there is something a little safe about the song. It sounds a bit like any other song by THE AMITY AFFLICTION. Obviously, bands do inevitably fall into a pattern, but after 20 years together you might hope the band could mix things up a bit.
On the other hand, it could be because when they did try something new, it wasn’t exactly a hit with critics. That’s not to say that there aren’t new things tried here. It’s Hell Down Here has elements of electronic music and guttural death growls. There are also multiple guest vocalists on the record, which hasn’t been heard on an album by THE AMITY AFFLICTION since Youngbloods. The first is in fourth track Death And The Setting Sun, which features Andrew Neufeld of Canadian hardcore punks COMEBACK KID. He breathes new life into the album, bringing a new angle to the song. This breaks up the somewhat stale formula of a screamed vocal chorus, singing verses and a short breakdown that plagued the first three songs. Furthermore, the song is more upbeat instead of trudging through the motions. The instruments are fantastic, and everything just sounds more alive.
I See Dead People boasts a posthumous feature from the late rapper Louie Knuxx, who was a close friend of the band who had sadly died from a heart attack in 2021 at the age of 42. The song itself is a vicious onslaught of heavy metal, which sees Birch unleash his anger at the pain of losing friends. Knuxx‘s soft and haunting vocals adds a poignancy to the song. This anger continues on the next track When It Rains It Pours, which features THE PLOT IN YOU vocalist Landon Tewers. Unfortunately, it does fall back a little into the formula that THE AMITY AFFLICTION love.
Although the rest of the songs do slip back into the formula, there are some death growls thrown in and some interesting instrumental arrangements that are used. For example, Close To Me uses a fast-paced guitar riff and drum beat that drives the song along instead of the typical mid-tempo feel that seems to be the standard on much of the rest of the record. The closing title track starts off with the title being whispered. It is a gentle acoustic song that still has some screamed vocals. However, the highlight has to be Phem, whose haunting voice perfectly compliments the song. The rest of the band do come in during the latter half, and they explore melodic rock on this song, which suits them well. It is a shame that this sort of experimentation wasn’t on the rest of the album.
Whilst Not Without My Ghosts does have some different styles of music for a few songs, the rest of the album treads the same waters that THE AMITY AFFLICTION have explored many times before. That is not to say that it’s a bad one, because it most certainly isn’t. However, it seems that the band have taken the harsh criticism to heart and fallen back into old sounds. If you like their original sound, then this album will be for you. However, if you are looking for a fresh take from these Aussie veterans, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
Rating: 6/10
Not Without My Ghosts is out now via Pure Noise Records.
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