The Amity Affliction are stepping into a new chapter, unveiling their ninth studio album ‘House Of Cards’ and signalling a shift in both sound and identity for one of Australia’s most consistent heavy exports.
After eight records that helped define modern Aussie metalcore, The Amity Affliction aren’t coasting on legacy, instead, ‘House Of Cards’ arrives with new clean vocalist Jonny Reeves in the fold, bringing a fresh dynamic to a band that’s built its name on emotional weight and blunt force delivery.
A record built on personal history
This isn’t a surface level reset, for frontman Joel Birch, ‘House Of Cards’ cuts deeper than most of their catalogue (per press release):
“…If it isn’t about my mother specifically, it is about things that I have experienced that are directly tied to my experience growing up and where that has landed me now. ‘Break These Chains’ is directly tied to that and the confusion I felt when dealing with my mother dying and all the crazy sh*t she had at her house, ‘Speaking In Tongues’ is about the hypocrisy of my mother sending me off to church constantly throughout my life and my very negative experiences within said church, ‘Afterlife’ is me musing on my lack of belief that there is an afterlife, ‘Reap What You Sow’ follows on from there in its own way and ‘Eternal War’ is the closer that explains how I find myself feeling a lot of the time.
There is a line in there “the fool is blind the hand is dealt” which I wrote about my consistent hope that one day my mother would change, written in the context of a gambling addict chasing the perfect hand.”
It’s heavy subject matter grief, addiction, religion, loss, but that’s always been Amity’s lane, what feels different here is how direct it is.
New blood, new chemistry
Reeves’ addition isn’t just a footnote, his clean vocals bring a sharper contrast against Birch’s delivery, giving tracks like ‘Break These Chains’, ‘Swan Dive’, and ‘Reap What You Sow’ more room to breathe without softening the impact.
It’s a subtle shift, but it changes the band’s shape in a way that feels intentional rather than reactive.
The Amity Affliction ‘House Of Cards’ Track Listing
- Vida Nueva
- Kickboxer
- House Of Cards
- Heaven Sent
- Bleed
- Break These Chains
- Beso De La Muerte
- Swan Dive
- Speaking In Tongues
- Afterlife
- Reap What You Sow
- Eternal War
Pick up your copy and find out more here.
‘Kickboxer’ and the album’s sonic edge
Focus track ‘Kickboxer’ captures that balance between chaos and control:
“The way this song came about is very funny: Dan was watching Kickboxer on the bus and there is a line in the movie where Van Damme says “It’s good stuff, what is this?” and the answer is “translated, kiss of death.” Dan sent me a text later that night… “Hey can you write a song with Kiss of Death in it?”
When he asks things like this it’s always because he has had a song come to him and knows exactly how he wants it to sound before it’s written. I wrote that song in my bunk on tour, as I do many others, and it’s just a song expressing my distaste for the way I grew up having people pray for me, or lay hands on me to pray, and how I’m not waiting on some divine being to come and save me from any situation I am in.”
What comes next
With ‘House Of Cards’, The Amity Affliction aren’t reinventing themselves, they’re tightening their grip on what they’ve always done, while letting new elements in where it counts.
After a run through regional Australia, the band are lining up international touring across North America, Europe, and the UK, pushing this next era far beyond home soil, if this record is anything, it’s proof that Amity still have more to say, and they’re not dressing it up.
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