The Amity Affliction – Chasing Ghosts
Review by Kristy Siciliano
The Amity Affliction, a band from Brisbane, Australia, just released its third studio-recorded album, entitled “Chasing Ghosts”. The Amity Affliction has been an up and coming band in the United States ever since its first US tour back in the spring of 2011 with bands such as Woe, Is Me, Of Mice and Men, I Set My Friends On Fire and Sleeping With Sirens. With that being said, the anticipation for this album has been pretty high.
The album “Chasing Ghosts” has a completely different feel then its first two albums, “Severed Ties” and “Youngbloods”. It is very unique in its style and definitely stands out. Ahren Stringer (clean vocals) and Joel Birch (vocals) both have a different style and sound to their voices. Despite the fact that Birch does screams where as Stringer does the clean vocals; even though their styles are different they still mesh well together.
The song “Chasing Ghosts” is the single off the album. This song is absolutely beautiful in terms of how it was composed, the melody and the variation in the vocals. This song, despite that the meaning is very obsolete; is still a incredibly exceptional song. The melody and instrumentals are catchy and intriguing. Stringers voice in this song shows his talent vocally, his transitions to different pitches are very smooth and lovely.
The instrumentals throughout the whole album are extremely tight and clean. Everything is perfectly in sync and very dynamic in tones. The tonality and musicality that The Amity Affliction express throughout the album is extremely noticeable. Their talent shines in each and every song; you can sense that each song was eloquently thought out and that there is so much meaning behind each song. The fact that each song has similarities, but they are extremely different shows how intelligent and talented they are.
Let me just speak a bit on how perfect this album is. It is absolutely flawless, just the whole tonal variation throughout the album gives it a different and eclectic sound that resonates in your ears. Listening to this album one time through is not an option, the sounds carried throughout the album are definitely a lot different than other albums that are currently being released, so “Chasing Ghosts” sticks out amongst the rest. The Amity Affliction is an up and coming band, as I stated previously. They have been on a few different US tours with various big named bands. Soon, they will be apart of The AP Tour, which includes acts such as Miss May I, The Ghost Inside, Like Moths to Flames and Glass Cloud. I highly recommend seeing them The Amity Affliction on the AP tour if it comes to a city near you, they are worth the listen. The live stage performances are impeccable and you will fall in love with them instantly.
Overall Rating: 5/5
Recommended Tracks: Chasing Ghosts, R.I.P. Bon, Open Letter, Flowerbomb, Geoff Sux 666
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