Album review: The Amity Affliction – House Of Cards

House Of Cards is a bold name for the new album from The Amity Affliction. Of course the Queensland metalcore mainstays are making metaphors for the same emotional precarities they always have: suicidal ideation, grief, addiction, rage. But following the departure of one of their own cornerstones, founding bassist/clean vocalist Ahren Stringer, fans wondering whether the music will be as solid as it used to be will be disappointed. This ain’t great.

Technically, there’s little wrong with Ahren’s replacement Jonathan Reeves. It’s that, having only formally been welcomed into the fold last year, he seems to still be settling in. After industrial-tinged intro track VIDA NUEVA (New Life), he doesn’t sing on first track proper KICKBOXER, with long-standing growl specialist Joel Birch shouldering the lions share of the load, as he does for most of the album. And when Jonathan does boast his pipes on the title-track it feels jarring and shoehorned: an effort to show clean singing is still on the cards.

That sense of forced songwriting persists throughout. The clean-sung, title-repeating chorus to HEAVEN SENT is cloying, with even the semi-automatic riffs of its big final breakdown feeling somewhat rote. BLEED’s odd synthetic sounding vocal samples feel oddly out of place against what’s otherwise brutish route one metalcore, like artists who’ve heard Bring Me The Horizon’s MANTRA but can’t grasp that level of bratty cool. The mid-paced BREAK THESE CHAINS might be the best track on offer, hardly a barnstormer, but a pleasantly groovy 220 seconds that allows everyone to stretch their wings and sound their best.

It’s hard to feel House Of Cards is anything other than a disappointment. There are flashes of the old urgency and flair in the excellent main riff to SWAN DIVE, and apoplectic closer ETERNAL WAR feels like a promise that they’ll be back again regardless. But the pieces need to fit together better than this.

Verdict: 2/5

For fans of: Northlane, Beartooth, A Day To Remember

House Of Cards is released on April 24 via Pure Noise.