The Amity Affliction acknowledge their legacy - but they'll never rest on their laurels

The Amity Affliction defined a generation of Australian heavy music fans’ coming of age. At the turn of the decade, they cut through a snooze-worthy conglomerate of American metalcore bands who seemingly cared more about whether their sweeping fringes were hairsprayed than their riffs and breakdowns.

With a heavy synth-helping, the most tattoo-worthy lyrics in the game and a unique charisma that reverberated between Joel Birch and Ahren Stringer, they were dizzying, bleary-eyed phenomenon.

Now, The Amity Affliction have grown up. They’ve toured the Australian arena circuit several times over, conquered the ARIA Charts, and have cemented their status as undeniable icons – but they refuse to bask in nostalgia.

Although the exuberant call to arms chorus to ‘I Hate Hartley’ sounds as epic as it did in 2010, and the riptide-force drumming of ‘Bondi St Blues’ still pummels, The Amity Affliction will never rest on their well-earnt laurels.

2018 saw the release of Misery. When lead single ‘Ivy (Doomsday)’ was unleashed, fans were divided. The track was absent of a front-and-center riff, Joel Birch’s screams took a back seat and those waiting for a mosh-call or breakdown were left scrolling back through their Spotify library in search of ‘Geoff Suxx 666’.

The Amity Affliction – Ivy (Doomsday)

Despite its sonic departure, it was still distinctly Amity – over 15 years of perfectly honed identity bled through in the undeniably anthemic, heart-on-your-sleeve track.

“Americans just loved it and it enforced our belief that we are doing the right thing trying new stuff and keeping it fresh because we don’t want to be one of those bands who fizzle out from doing the same thing over and over,” said Stringer on Misery, ahead of the band’s appearance at Download Festival Australia just last month.

“We kind of have just grown gradually over the last 16 years. So it’s always been a blessing for us to be able to put out a new album and people like it more than the last one.”

With odes to Ahren’s burning pop-timism and Birch’s developing vocal variety, Misery is a confident, experimental and mature statement. It displays a level of fearlessness that other bands who began conquering the heavy music circuit over a decade now fail to live up to.

Just over a year and a half ago, The Amity Affliction took to the stage of the hallowed Unify Gathering to perform a special “15 Years Of Amity” set. Whilst fans relished the opportunity to embrace the chorus of ‘Youngbloods’ once again, it was clear the band’s more contemporary material was fiercely taken to.

The Amity Affliction – ‘Youngbloods’

In the dawn of anniversary tours, throwback emo nites and unexpected reunions, there’s clearly no need for Amity to continually re-hash old flames to maintain interest from fans.

“You know like me and Dan and Joel really feel strongly about this, and when a band does that kind of thing to us, it looks like they’re giving up a little bit.”

“We’re not breaking up. We are not gonna take hiatuses. We’re not doing a ten-year reunion set of a record or whatever. To me personally, it looks like, a band admitting defeat slightly when they do that kind of stuff.”

Having recently wrapped up a huge US tour, it’s quite clear that what Stringer describes as a “vocal minority” that complain about setlists…… As they’ve evolved grown, their ever-growing audience has entered their minds,

“We have such an overwhelmingly positive response and I think there’s just more and more newer fans coming to see us rather than older fans so the new stuff usually goes down better than older stuff. I think there have been a few shows in Europe and America where people don’t even really know stuff off Chasing Ghosts that well.

It was America who really took the new album on board and embraced it with open arms, so the new stuff we played just went off like better than older stuff. I always assumed it is the vocal minority who are the whinger’s so to speak.”

The Amity Affliction – ‘Drag The Lake’

Just last month, the band announced yet another huge Australian headline tour. They’re bringing metalcore legends Underoath, electronicore kings Crossfaith and nu-school Aussie heavyweights Pagan – Amity have a reputation for massive tour lineups, delivering a package that culimates different eras and facets of the scene perfectly.

Having recently debuted material off Misery at Download Festival Australia to rapturous response, Australian fans can expect a reflection on their career during their upcoming tour, but don’t expect a full-on nostalgia fest.

“Every now and then chuck in a different song from Youngbloods or something like that. We still acknowledge the all older fans

I think because we have been around for so long and we’ve got so many albums, it’s really easy to pick our set list now. I’m very excited to finally play a lot these songs in Australia.”