“It haunts me; does it haunt you too? The way we all fall apart.”
My history with The Amity Affliction is quite an extensive one. They were the second band I ever saw live (after my all-time favourite band Volumes) as part of the 2015 Of Mice & Men tour promoting Restoring Force: Full Circle. The 2012 album Chasing Ghosts and its critically-acclaimed 2014 follow-up Let The Ocean Take Me soundtracked my mid-late teenage years, offering much solace in a turbulent chapter, and they still remain as brilliant records that stand up today.
It’s fair to say, though, that The Amity Affliction have meandered for many over the last few years, myself included. Over 2016, 2018 and 2020, the respective releases of This Could Be Heartbreak, Misery and Everyone Loves You… Once You Leave Them showed all the hallmarks of Amity’s uniqueness and promise, yet were devoid of that special, integral something that completed the previous albums of the early-mid 2010’s. To the joy of many however, The Amity Affliction’s latest string of singles have for the most part exuded that promise, simultaneously marking a return to form for Amity whilst paving a pathway towards the future. Let’s jump right into the album that these singles belong to: Not Without My Ghosts.
Opener and first single “Show Me Your God” is paradoxically unlike anything The Amity Affliction have ever put out, whilst sounding like something only Amity could craft. Gracious, atmospheric dotted-note keys open the gates for unrelenting blast beats, blitzing us with the most deathcore-sounding Amity offering to date. Before long, Ahren Stringer’s soaring clean vocals deliver a predictable, repetitive chorus, albeit one that is endearingly catchy: “Throw me down the well / Let it me swallow me whole / Pull me into hell / Throw me down the well / Let it swallow me whole.”
In terms of guitar production, Dan Brown’s stringsmanship on “Show Me Your God” is an earth-rumbling, Drop-F-tuned frenzy, stacking Amity up against a multitude of modern-metalcore groups also gathering around those low baritone tunings. The overarching guitar sound here is most comparable to We Came As Romans and Kingdom Of Giants; there’s a majorly chunky presence of low frequencies giving everything such a dark, hefty feel that I seriously dig.
“It’s Hell Down Here” follows “Show Me Your God” with enthralling, explosive drumwork by Joe Longobardi, rivalling the likes of Crystal Lake and Chelsea Grin in sheer heaviness and volatility — although, there’s admittedly some evident programming here which leaves the percussion feeling rather robotic. Complementing this is frontman Joel Birch and his signature style of ferocious fry screams, whose work across Not Without My Ghosts lends so much aggression and emotion to the record, albeit offering very little in the way of variety.
The lyricism on show – in true Amity fashion – teeters on sincerity and shallowness, as nuance and metaphor are oft discarded in place of quite literal, straightforward lyrics that reduce the album’s depth. Birch mostly makes this work in his favour, offering a compelling narrative of hopelessness on “It’s Hell Down Here”: “I can feel you writhe / I feel the tears well in your eyes / Streaming down your face / You haven’t seen the sun in days.”
Third track “Fade Away” is an anthemic expression of losing oneself in the depths of ill-mental health, a relatable elegy that harkens back to The Amity Affliction’s aforementioned golden albums with pained, strained lyrics: “I’ve been living in a fog, it seems / ‘Cause I don’t feel alive and I’m not here to dream / Fade away, fade away / I want to fade away.” Birch throws in some gloriously-low gutturals leading into the song’s breakdown, as emotionally-driven guitar chugs are surrounded and swallowed by Amity’s trademark synths for the album’s standout song.
A trilogy of tracks with vocal features ensue next, beginning with “Death And The Setting Sun” featuring Comeback Kid’s Andrew Neufeld, whose verse towards the end of the track lends an extremely exciting dynamic to the predictable combination of Birch and Stringer. However, there’s little else within this track that is particularly noteworthy, as nothing new is added to the Amity formula in Not Without My Ghosts’ midpoint.
“I See Dead People” is Amity’s downright heaviest offering to date, with a posthumous verse by the late New Zealand rapper Louie Knuxx, who passed away in 2021. “I See Dead People” is a commendable effort for something new as it is the first Amity song without Stringer’s presence, yet Birch’s unilateral vocal style arguably lacks the substance to stand on its own. Otherwise, “I See Dead People” stands out at least instrumentally, carrying stank-face-inducing heaviness throughout.
Last but certainly not least is “When It Rains It Pours” featuring the beloved The Plot In You frontman, Landon Tewers, which opens with a frenetic, eclectic blast of dissonant guitars and ethereal synths. The atmosphere throughout “When It Rains It Pours” is unendingly grandiose, although I cannot help but wish for a lot more out of Tewers’ feature. The gravity of the song is ultimately unaffected with or without his feature, and I am left saddened for what could have been so much more.
“God Voice” leads us towards the album’s finale, with subterraneanly-low guitar riffs offering flavours reminiscent of Spiritbox and Black Tongue. Stringer’s chorus of “oh’s” and “ah’s” feels a little ingenuous for what had the potential to be a truly stellar track. Promise emanates from the instrumentation of “God Voice”, as punchy guitar chugs are matched by absolutely slammed kick patterns by Longobardi.
The album’s title track closes the record, acting as an accessible, sluggish singalong ballad built for live performances. Here, the excitement and energy for Not Without My Ghosts tapers as the lyrics come off a little cringeworthy and absent of much artistic appeal: “One to carry sadness / One to carry fear / One to carry panic and one to carry tears / One for my depression and one who wants my dead / One to hide my hollow heart and some I’ve never met.” This is certainly an admirable attempt at lending Not Without My Ghosts more diversity in its songs, and whilst it successfully wraps up the album’s themes, it does so on a bit of a disappointing note.
In conclusion, I am pleasantly surprised by Not Without My Ghosts. After three albums that firmly landed in the mid-tiers for me personally, I went into Not Without My Ghosts with admittedly low expectations. Yet, this album hits some lofty highs, albeit with a few inconsistencies along the way, ultimately placing it about as close to the coveted Chasing Ghosts and Let The Ocean Take Me as we’re likely to get for now. Ultimately, Not Without My Ghosts misses marks much for the same reason as their other records, with a lack of variety between tracks and an overabundance of insubstantial lyrics weighing down what would otherwise be well on the way to being their best album yet.
Not Without My Ghosts releases May 12th via Pure Noise Records, and you can pre-order it here. For more on The Amity Affliction and all the latest reviews for 2023’s most anticipated releases, stick with us at Boolin Tunes.
6.5/10