Review Summary: The Amity Affliction gives us some 'High Hopes' for future releases on this EP... Okay enough of the bad puns.
Ever since the breakup of large Australian hardcore act I Killed The Prom Queen and the exportation of Parkway Drive , there has been a large gaping void in the national metalcore/ambient scene in Australia. The Amity Affliction are a 5 piece metalcore act from Queensland, and have been quickly growing a solid fan base and are filling that void nicely.
Opening with the futuristic and fenetic synth in 'I Heart Throsby' we are greeted with screams and the now obligatory whiney clean vocals that we find in metalcore today, though this somewhat suits how this band writes with the clean vocals contrasting extremely well with the screaming. '...Throsby' being my favourite track on this EP, is able to build up into the catchy choruses, keep your head in whiplash mode with great breakdowns and a slow acoustic break which mixes in quite nicely and does not chop up the flow of the song.
The "Training Day" quote “You gotta decide whether you're a wolf... or a sheep” leads us into 'RIP Steggy' which sounds like any generic metalcore song that you would hear from bands such as The Devil Wears Prada, until the synth comes in like a siren taking the song into a great interlude, but then once again it disappears into the generic-ness that the mass of metalcore bands are giving us today. Luckily, they have stuck 'RIP Steggy' in between two of the best songs on the EP. 'Straight Up', comes flying out of the dregs that 'RIP Steggy' left. It begins with a gang shout then, as per usual, into a breakdown that will keep you pressing the rewind just to hear it again and again.
'Doug Wayne' is full of metalcore goodness, as well as a lot of bad. With a lot of hooks that really only make the chorus sections any worth listening to as the verses just seem to bobble like one of those bobble head dogs, and not do much more.
'Cut it Out' is a epical 9 minute journey (with hidden track in this time space) about a suicide of a student at a school, though it doesn’t really do any justice to the cause as it is really a bit of a sloppy attempt at such a emotional subject, though after finding and listening to the hidden section of the song, you can start to convey feelings towards the persong that has given their life away, as soft and lyrical sounding guitar plays over the students class discussion of his death.
While The Amity Affliction are relatively new to the scene of metalcore, they are able to stand up and show that they have what it takes to cut it in the genre and are able to mix synth in much better than metalcore bands do per-usual, instead of the over the top exploits of some bands today. With the catchiness and melodic vocals of Alexisonfire, the euro-metal stylings of Still Remains and a dash of contained brutality a la Underoath, High Hopes is an impressively executed step towards the top.
