Don’t expect any more Redux albums from The Amity Affliction.
At the end of September, the metalcore heavyweights re-released their seminal 2014 album Let the Ocean Take Me in a bold, re-recorded Redux version.
For The Amity Affliction, this updated version wasn’t just a simple re-release, but a pivotal moment of reclaiming their creative legacy. Speaking on the decision to re-record the album, frontman Joel Birch revealed the motivations behind the project.
“The album is almost entirely dedicated to addiction and the effects it had on my life and mental health; the strangest thing while re-recording this was reading the words and then reflecting on life since then,” he explained.
“This album was the catalyst for us touring the world and turning what was just a really fun time into a career, from kids to adults, from haphazardly throwing together songs to the place where we’re at now where we feel like we put more purpose into everything we create.”
But in a new interview with Rolling Stone AU/NZ, Birch claimed that it’s a one-time deal, and there won’t be any other Redux versions of old albums.
“Would I go back and redo any of the others? No chance,” he said. Let the Ocean Take Me stands alone as the only album they felt compelled to revisit, and Birch insisted he’s content to leave it at that. “I think that’s the beauty of music. You hear something, and it takes you straight back to where you were when you first heard it.”
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Elsewhere in the interview, Birch reflected on the making of the original Let the Ocean Take Me, which now acts as a reminder of how far he’s come.
“Looking back on it, I can obviously see this sort of naivety of someone living with addiction and not really admitting that there’s a problem,” he said. “I was sort of like, oh yeah, I nearly died, LOL. I kind of wanted to be dead anyway, so it didn’t bother me, which is another crazy thing to think about.”
Let the Ocean Take Me originally debuted at #1 on the ARIA Charts and earned the band a nomination for Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Album at the ARIA Awards.
Following the release of their Redux album, the band now set their sights on a national tour, which features stops in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth, with support from Ice Nine Kills, We Came As Romans, and Heavensgate.
The Amity Affliction’s Let the Ocean Take Me (Redux) is out now. The band’s tour dates can be found here.
