THE AMITY AFFLICTION // Return of the Mosh Conquerors

Stopping Sydney’s hearts last night—our review below—Gympie’s boizz The Amity Affliction have just released a zombie-fied video for their contribution to Pop Goes Punk Vol. 7, The Weeknd’s Can’t Feel My Face. Watch below:

The track is taken from Fearless Records’ forthcoming Punk Goes Pop Vol. 7, which also features State Champs and New Years Day, as well as rising stars such as Boston Manor, Seaway and Too Close To Touch taking on some of pop’s biggest names such as Twenty One Pilots, Drake, James Bay and Drake among others.

Indie punks Dance Gavin Dance took on Bruno Mars’ That’s What I Like as the first single, which you can see here. Hysteria, in association with Caroline Records, will premiere the behind the scenes doco for the clip next Sunday, 2nd July at 6pm.

THE AMITY AFFLICTION
with PVRIS + Beartooth + Make Them Suffer
Hordern Pavilion, Sydney
Thursday, 22nd June 2017

After an intimate 18+ theatre run and a sprawling regional stint, The Amity Affliction are finally giving LP5—buoyant This Could Be Heartbreak —a ridiculously huge, pyro-flavoured send-off it deserves. But does it pay off to a Sydney crowd starving for a solid mosh?

Sexy—do you think I am? // Photo: Sandra Markovic

Perth legends Make Them Suffer are first up to the plate, and with a breathless smattering of bellows and breakdowns, the ‘core inclined quintet have no trouble warming up a rapidly filling venue. Fundamentally, they’re decent—frontman Sean Harmanis‘ brooding quips are as crisp as ever, and his ability to instil energy in even the sleepiest of souls is an invaluable tool for an opening band; new keyboardist and clean vocalist Booka Nile is a show-stopper with buttery smooth melodies, glassy synth lines cutting through an onslaught of riffs with a tense ringing at her hands.

Boonta Booka // Photo: Sandra Markovic

But there’s something missing in the mist of shred and strobe. Make Them Suffer have little in store to set them apart from other formulaic metalcore bands, and when every song sounds more or less the same to non-fans, excitement wavers fast. It’s not bad, by any stretch, just … inoffensive. Music this heavy shouldn’t be that staid.

Ursine Incisor // Photo: Sandra Markovic

Beartooth are always at least decent onstage, but tonight, they’re no less than fucking incredible. Lead-in cut Aggressive brings the mosh fiends out of the woodwork in a tsunami of flailing limbs, and from there, shit just keeps getting crazier and crazier. Leaving not an inch of the stage without his footprint or a minute without spurring a sea of raised fists, Caleb Shomo is a true frontman: when he cries out for a circle pit, he gets that goddamn circle pit.

Beartooth // Photo: Sandra Markovic

When he swerves from a callous yell to a bright clean, the cue to sing along is inescapable. Dual guitarists Taylor Lumley and Kamron Bradbury are equally poignant, battering out riff after riff in time to a skittering flare of rainbow lights. Between viciously heavy cuts like Always Dead (which saw both the night’s widest circle pit and its most epic wall of death) and the distinctly melodic In Between, Beartooth deliver a set more dynamic and consistently engaging than it has any right to be. Holy shit.

Lynn Gunn // Photo: Sandra Markovic

It’s a shame to see the crowd stiffen up when PVRIS take the spotlight. The pop-rockers are a bit of an anomaly on the bill otherwise all shred ‘n’ no bread, but their talent is undeniable: Lynn Gunn has a voice that could straight-up kill a man, her slick and spacey tenor wrapping like ribbons around a platform of noodly guitars and uneasy keys. And despite the lacklustre reception, Gunn pours her absolute heart and soul into the performance—when she isn’t losing herself in a harmony or a tight Telecaster strum, she’s traipsing the stage.

Not Lynn Gunn (1 of 2) // Photo: Sandra Markovic

She’s laying waste to drummer Justin Nace‘s underused cymbals and knocking out soul-melting synth lines like they’re child’s play. Easy highlights are found in new cuts Half and Heaven, which have us instantly frothing for the trio’s forthcoming second LP (All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell)—guitarist Alex Babinski frets away on the latter with the kind of energetic precision you only ever see from an artist truly engaged in their own work. 

The Colossus who bestrode the stage // Photo: Sandra Markovic

To the surprise of absolutely no one, our (predominantly younger) crowd goes full boonta the second we’re greeted by The Amity Affliction. Fists fly and circle pits flurry from the first crippling breakdown on fan fave Open Letter, and it isn’t until the acoustic repose of All Fucked Up—which, bless their cotton socks, is God awful—that the kids have a chance to catch their breath. 

The Amity Affliction Disco Trip // Photo: Sandra Markovic

Causing an all-out anarchy with his microphone as a weapon, scream-lord Joel Birch is at the top of his game tonight: there’s a genuine pain in the bloodied cries that flood Chasing Ghosts and I Bring The Weather With Me; a viciousness in I Hate Hartley and a deep, searing bellow in Death’s Hand. After a few tours of passable wailing that would quickly devolve into a total sonic shitstorm, it’s relieving to see Birch back on his best two feet.

Skins Alive // Photo: Sandra Markovic

The same can’t be said for bassist and clean vocalist Ahren Stringer, however, whose anti-melodic choruses are tolerable at best and an unbearable blur of sinus-plagued whine at worst. But while he still can’t sing to save his life, String has clearly been working on his pig squeal: at completely random points in the night, he’ll spin a previously soft part into the sickest, goriest screech this side of the Pacific Ocean … and somehow … It works. We can now safely put “Thy Amity Is Affliction” on our list of Mashups that need to happen ASAP. 

These hands reach for hell // Photo: Sandra Markovic

Given that Amity are currently ticking off two boxes on the Special Occasion form—it’s their first proper capital city run in support of This Could Be Heartbreak ~and~ their last Australian tour for 2017—it makes sense that the band would embrace a truly grandiose delivery. Every clattering slew of riffs is an excuse to launch a pitter-patter of booming flames, giving heavier songs an added irate kick and lighter songs a sense of stadium rock opulence. Blasts of confetti bookend the set with Birch spreading his arms out as if to say, “Yeah, we can afford this shit, we’re the goddamn Amity Affliction. What up?” Add to it a dynamic setlist that swerves through a storied decade of circle pits and sadness, and you’ve got yourself a show worthy of the setup.

Thank you, Springton // Photo: Sandra Markovic

Of course, you should still take a grain of salt should you wish to see the Youngbloods in action—the best Amity shows are still riddled with holes. If you’re not a teenager attached to Birch at the hip, you’ll cringe your fair share of cringes. If tonight’s show is any indication, the Brisbane boys just might be on the way back up. Even if it is a whole year off, we’re already bloody stoked for their next jaunt.

Feed the fire // Photo: Sandra Markovic

The Amity Affliction wrap up the Heartbreak tour in Brisbane this Saturday, 24th June at the Riverstage. Tickets are available here >

SETLIST:

Open Letter
Lost & Fading
Never Alone
I Hate Hartley / Youngbloods
Chasing Ghosts
The Weigh Down
All Fucked Up
Death’s Hand
Some Friends
I Bring The Weather With Me
Shine On
Nightmare
Fight My Regret
—————
Pittsburgh
Don’t Lean On Me
This Could Be Heartbreak