The Amity Affliction Celebrates Ten Years of 'Let The Ocean Take Me' at the Brand New Brooklyn Paramount
The Amity Affliction bring the celebration to New York’s newest venue with crushing support from Currents, Dying Wish and Mugshot.
Spectators lined up outside the Brooklyn Paramount on the nicest day of the year so far. Everyone piled in as the first band of the night took to the stage. Bringing an assault of brutal hardcore was Mugshot. Mugshot is an American hardcore band from San Jose, California currently signed to Pure Noise Records. The band consists of vocalist Ringo Waterman, guitarist Michael Demko, bassist Ciro Abraham and drummer Connor Haines. Mugshot demolishes the audience with some of the heaviest breakdowns you'll ever hear. Breakdowns from Demko with bombs being dropped by Haines on the drums had the pit moving early. Mugshot’s onslaught of west coast hardcore left a great impression on the New York crowd and gained many new fans by the time they stepped off the stage. Next up was a band that has begun making waves in the metalcore scene.
Taking the stage next, was Dying Wish. Dying Wish is an American metalcore band from Portland, Oregon currently signed to Sharptone Records. The band formed in 2016 and began making waves after supporting The Devil Wears Prada on the Zombie Tour in the summer of 2022. The band currently consists of vocalist Emma Boster, guitarists Sam Reynolds and Pedro Carillo, bassist John Mackey and drummer Jeff Yambra. Boster’s incredible vocal range stands out in her live performance as she hits highs and lows with ease. Her on stage energy is infectious as the crowd followed her as she two stepped on stage. The rest of the band took turns calling out for circle pits and demanding the crowd to go insane. Dying Wish gave shoutouts to the Long Island hardcore scene which got the crowd in a frenzy. The people in the pit didn't skip a beat as they moshed for the whole set with little breaks. Dying Wish thanked the crowd for one of their favorite shows yet and left the stage impressing new and old fans. Next up was a band that's become a household name in all of metalcore.
Walking up to the plate was emerging metalcore powerhouse Currents. Currents formed in 2011 in Newton, Connecticut and are currently signed to Sharptone Records. The band currently consists of vocalist Brian Wille, guitarists Chris Wiseman and Ryan Castaldi, bassist Christian Pulgarin and drummer Matt Young. Currents has also supported metalcore standouts such as Parkway Drive, Ice Nine Kills and Polaris. Currents released their latest album “The Death We Seek” via Sharptone Records just over a year ago and they are still riding the success of that album.
Metalcore fans all over the globe fell in love with the album and many claimed to be the album of the year. Currents' lyrics talk about every aspect of the struggles of daily life. Their songs can feel like a suckerpunch and cause tears to flow as the songs are relatable and reach the listener emotionally. They have amassed over 1.3 million monthly listeners and are continuing to make noise in the scene.
Currents opened their set with a few songs from their fan favorite album “The Way It Ends” which was released in 2020. One of their most streamed songs is called “Monsters” which has over 20 million streams. This song talks about the stubbornness to admit fault in a toxic relationship. The crowd went into a frenzy as Wille screamed “I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING” and the pit was full of people swinging their arms and doing cartwheels. Wille is a master at transitioning from screams to clean vocals. Their set was non-stop crowd surfing as people were being thrown into the air as they screamed the lyrics back to the band. Security was in for a workout as there was no break. They did an incredible job keeping people safe and sound as pure chaos ensued in the pit. The on-stage energy from Pulgarin is like none other as he has the ability to play bass and run around on stage, jumping from riser to riser. Currents is becoming one of the biggest names in metalcore as people will show up to any show just to see them. Just like that, their set was over as they won the hearts of many new fans. Up next was the time to celebrate a monumental album in metalcore history.
Taking the stage was The Amity Affliction. The Amity Affliction are an Australian metalcore band that formed in 2003 in Gympie, Queensland. The band currently consists of vocalist Joel Birch, guitarist Dan Brown and drummer Joel Longobardi. Their current bassist and clean vocalist Ahren Stringer stepped away from the rest of the tour due to personal reasons. Taking his role was Tim Beken, the vocalist of True North. The Amity Affliction have been mainstays in the scene for two decades playing multiple warped tours and having toured alongside bands such as A Day To Remember, Parkway Drive and Motionless In White. The Amity Affliction has released eight studio albums and have been nominated for multiple Australian music awards. Their most recent record “Not Without My Ghosts” released just over a year ago and was nominated for best record in last year's Rolling Stone Australian Awards. The band recruited artists such as Andrew Neufeld of Comeback Kid and Landon Tewers of The Plot In You as features on the latest album. Nothing compares to the magnitude of their 2014 album “Let The Ocean Take Me”.
This tour is in celebration of “Let The Ocean Take Me”. A decade ago, the band released that album and the trajectory of their careers skyrocketed. On April 14th 2014, The band released “Pittsburgh”, the lead single of the album. This song along with the album were a gateway for casual rock and metal listeners to enter the world of metalcore and its surrounding genres. Countless people discovered their love for metal through this song. Stringer described in a 2020 interview with Kerrang! that he wrote Pittsburgh musically while Birch wrote the lyrics. Stringer said he believes Birch wrote the song about his life-threatening seizure at Warped Tour in 2013. They believed that this would be the song to make it big. It was never in doubt as it amassed over 77 million streams on spotify and has become a staple in every metal fans playlist. What better way to kick off the set than with Pittsburgh. The venue deafened when the band took the stage and the whole crowd sang the lyrics for him. This was a theme all night as Birch let the crowd take over the singing. Crowd surfers began immediately and the screens on stage projected visuals of oceans and waves. The Amity Affliction played the album in its entirety with all ten songs being played in order. The emotional attachment built between the band and the fans is unmatched. Fans bring signs, describing how the band saved their lives and kept them going when things looked hopeless. It's truly a special bond that cannot be broken.
Birch’s screams are the most crisp and clean sounding in the scene. It's as if you're listening to the studio version. That includes the entire band too. Longobardi rapidly hits the blast beats while dropping bombs on snares and Brown is a beast on the breakdowns. Beken deserves a ton of recognition for jumping on the tour two days ago and putting on a beautiful performance. Fans were skeptical at first but he won them over with his angelic lean vocals. All of this was put on display for “Death’s Hand”, a song off “Let The Ocean Take Me”. Birch called for the pit to split down the middle for a wall of death for the iconic breakdown. Birch yells ‘HEY DEATH” and the crowd yells back ‘GET F*CKED”. Utter chaos occurred as both sides of the pit ran full force into each other. The best part of the night came from the final song. The Amity Affliction’s mainstay closing song is “Soak Me In Bleach” from their 2020 album “Everyone Loves You… Once You Leave Them”. The iconic chorus led into Birch demanding everyone in the crowd to get low to the ground. Birch counted down from 3 and yelled “JUMP”. The crowd exploded as everyone sang the final chorus. A heartfelt thank you from the band was the goodbye to the New York crowd as they walked off stage.
The Amity Affliction graced New York with one of their most iconic performances to date. Fans showed their love and support for the band along with Stringer as plenty of signs were brought along wishing him well. The Amity Affliction will embark on their Australian leg of the tour in the fall with an absolutely massive lineup featuring Ice Nine Kills, We Came As Romans and Heavensgate as they will be playing arenas and amphitheaters across their home country.
