The Amity Affliction, AskingAlexandria, Skyway @ The BigTop, Sydney (9/10/2011)

Tue 11th Oct, 2011 in Gig Reviews

The Amity Affliction has had a belter of a year. The release of their second album Youngbloods debuting on the ARIA charts at number 6 and has propelled them on a meteoric rise over the past 12 months. Each tour around the country has seen them sell out bigger venues every step of the way. They have traveled on huge tours throughout the US and UK and most recently the band signed with the juggernaut of heavy music record labels, Roadrunner. It was easy to see this tour as a victory lap of sorts for the band, before they embark on a huge tour of the US.

Fellow Queensland up-and-coming band Skyway played a passionate early set, showing why they are an artist to watch. Their infectious brand of pop-punk / hardcore got the young audience pumped early on, playing a set that featured heavily tracks off their recent debut album Finders Keepers. The set was muddied by some sound issues that saw the vocals buried in the mix but, to their credit, the band made the most of their short set time and had definitely earned themselves plenty of new fans by the end of the set.

Asking Alexandria emerged onstage to screams and applause that is generally reserved by punters for the headline act. From the moment their set begun they had the crowd whipped into a frenzy, their chugging machine gun riffs enticing some amped circle pits towards the front of the crowd. The clear highlight of this band though is in front man Danny Worsnop. His vocal control was amazing, releasing some of the most impressive screams and growls that would of required the lungs of an opera singer. This was coupled with his charismatic performance and strong rapport with the audience who were more than happy to do anything he asked of them. This connection was best displayed in the massive sing along to The Final Episode during which the crowd shouted back the chorus so loud they managed to drown out Worsnop.

The Amity Affliction had a hard act to follow, but came out and played with unbridled enthusiasm and passion, opening their set with Dr. Thunder and immediately hooking the audience. H.M.A.S Lookback was played early, with a body board was thrown out to the crowd for audience members to surf on, needless to say it was put to good use. All the time spent touring the world has sharpened their skills and this was apparent with how tight they were onstage tonight.

What makes The Amity Affliction such an exciting act is their ability to meld brutal riffs and hardcore screams with massive sing along choruses. To pull this off you need a united unit working together, the bands chemistry onstage was not lacking in the slightest. This could be seen with the kinetic vocals exchanges between front man Joel Birch (who is in charge of the hardcore screaming) and lead guitarist/clean vocalist Ahren Stringer (who’s vocal control is amazing for someone who spends much of his onstage time thrashing about while playing guitar).

The set borrowed heavily from Youngbloods but midway through the old fan favourites Snitches Get Stitches everyone’s favourite ode to goon Fruit Lexia were played with the same energy and aggression of the newer material. Not to be outdone by Asking Alexandria who had convinced the crowd to execute a huge wall of death earlier, a more positive spin on the wall of death was taken and the crowd split down the middle for a wall of high fives. It is this positive attitude that has put The Amity Affliction so far ahead of many other heavy bands in recent times, their songs are about being self reliant and being able to carry on even if times become tough. These themes resonated so well with the young audience and the enthusiasm of everyone in the room could be seen by the fact that when the band asked the audience to clap along, every single person all the way to the back of the room would join in.

The main set ended with a rousing rendition of Anchors that saw several plenty of circle pits break out in the crowd. This would have been an amazing track to close out the whole night but The Amity Affliction had one better and the crowd knew it. So after a quick breather the band re-emerged onstage to tear through I Hate Hartley. It was a electrifying way to end the set on a high with its positive lyrics and infectious chorus. At the completion of this last tour around Australia the band are set to make a massive tour across the states. Playing with this level of conviction and talent they should have little trouble amassing themselves a huge fan base.