Album Review: Let the Ocean Take Me by The Amity Affliction

A band brought together by personal tragedy, the Amity Affliction have a certain knack for creating cathartic, emotional free-for-alls, giving every song the feel of a life or death struggle to keep from being crushed by the heaviness of the world around us. On their fourth album, the Australians continue to work toward their strengths with Let the Ocean Take Me. Musically, the album feels like pretty standard metalcore, with driving riffs leading to a crushing breakdown, followed by a bright chorus.

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Australia’s the Amity Affliction have always incorporated life’s transformative experiences into their musical and lyrical framework. Their moniker originates from the hardship following the traffic accident death of a high school friend; Joel Birch has historically used his position as frontman to discuss his battles with anxiety and depression; and “Pittsburgh,” the lead-off track to Let The Ocean Take Me, concerns the circumstances and aftermath surrounding Birch suffering a near-fatal seizure at the Pittsburgh stop of 2013’s Warped Tour. There’s a deeply personal and emotionally wrenching side to this band, one you don’t usually find with most breakdown-centric, sing/scream metalcore.

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