The Amity Affliction's 'Feels Like I'm Dying' - Is This Change For Better?

29 July 2018 | 1:19 am | Alex Sievers
Originally Appeared In

The newest single from The Amity Affliction, 'Feels Like I'm Dying' is definitely different, but is it any good?

New Amity is definitely different, but is it any good? 



With the exception of 'All Fucked Up' and their 'Can't Feel My Face' cover, 'Feels Like I'm Dying' is the poppiest iteration we've ever heard from The Amity Affliction. Lifted from upcoming album 'Misery' (out August 24th via Roadrunner Records), and produced by Matt Squire and mixed by Josh Wilbur, 'Feels Like I'm Dying' is Amity's pop take. Of course, none of you care that both Wilbur and Squire have done an excellent job respectively, nor are you bothered by basic info regarding the wider album that this new single is apart of. No, you all came here to know if I thought this track was any good or not. And the short answer? No.

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"Oh shit, this sounds like a bad Punk Goes Pop cover and not a drab B-side from their last three albums? Stop the fuckin' presses and bust out the medals ASAP!", he said sarcastically. Though, in all seriousness, don't expect an entirely new band lying in wait once you hit play on 'Feels Like I'm Dying', as this is still recognisably The Amity Affliction. (Song format, melodic hooks, etc.) Yet there are a couple stylistic shifts here, to be fair. There's a more prevalent electronic presence, with these trendy, pitchy and chopped-up synths driving the track forward. They've removed the breakdowns and the guitars are less-heavy in tone. And then there's Joel Birch actually singing throughout, an admittedly nice change after years of raspy, throaty screaming.

Just as 'Ivy (Doomsday)' indicated, you cannot say that 'Feels Like I'm Dying' sounds like a re-hash of the tired metalcore-centric Amity Affliction. Though I must ask: what else was the band gonna do? They backed themselves right into a corner through lazily regurgitating 'Youngbloods' (2010) and 'Chasing Ghosts' (2012) - albums that I do quite like - on 'Let The Ocean Take Me' (2014) and the disastrous 'This Could Be Heartbreak' (2016). Releases that made them a self-parody. So it was either mix up their sound and dynamic or be written off even further by putting out more shitty metalcore. Which, to me, doesn't make this new single (and potentially 'Misery' as a whole) feel like a genuine sonic change. It feels more like a necessity for survival and to stop from being the brunt of anchor memes and oceanic jokes than it does an honest, creative endeavour to experiment with their sound.

No doubt Amity themselves and die-hard fans will see such comments and feel that they cannot win. That they're damned-if-they-do, damned-if-they-don't. Yet while change is nice, and while we should always be open to it, if that change isn't good then why bother? And should we just short-change our thoughts because it's something kinda new? 'Exactly' and 'no' are my answers.

Even the same lyrical themes of alcoholism, depression, suicide and mental illness are still present. Now, I'm not saying that these topics shouldn't be discussed publically or within the medium of music - that'd be grossly regressive - but it does feel like these are the only subject matters Amity can write about. Implying to jaded fans and long-since ship-jumped listeners they have literally nothing else to say in their art. Unless I missed a memo, these lyrics also don't seem to tie intrinsically into the band's recent music video plots either. (At least the gritty 1980’s Australia, robbery/revenge narrative in those clips is going somewhere, handles heavier themes like sexual assault carefully, and is well-directed too).

However, I think that the most moving and palpable aspect of these lyrical tropes will be the closing track of 'Misery' - 'The Gifthorse'. For those unaware, the frontman of Brisbane's The Gifthorse, Shane Collins, tragically passed away earlier in February after suffering from depression. I didn't know him personally but his death rocked the Australian music community; that loss deeply impacting many people I know within the local scene. Seeing as Amity knew the band and were close with Shane, I presume this particular track will be the most heartfelt piece we've heard from them in years. I haven't heard 'Misery' in full just yet, but I'm interested to hear not just 'The Gifthorse', but the rest of the record too.

And on that indeed sombre note, I'm gonna end it here. Thank you for reading as always and check out 'Feels Like I'm Dying' if you haven't already.