They say misery loves company, but it’s music lovers that are going to love Misery, the sixth studio album from The Amity Affliction.
“What do you think?” asks vocalist Joel Birch. Well, that’s the million dollar question. Misery pulls back from more consistent harsh vocals, only interjecting the soaring vocals when it’s right to rage. Amity round out the edges with electric-pop breakdowns, an unlikely accompaniment to the traditional heavy metal sound – and Birch is doing things with his vocals he’s never done before, revealing a man whose direction is opening his band up to new, amazing things.
“We went into the album knowing I would do the tonal screaming,” Birch says. “Then we were doing ‘Beltsville Blues’ – the only way it was working was either too low and sounded like a metal man voice, or too high and it sounded like a really bad AC/DC voice. I was in there and they were talking through the microphone, as you do in the studio, and said ‘Just have a go at singing.’ I did, I came out waiting to be laughed at, but they didn’t. It was sick.”
A happy accident Birch agrees. Naturally, the themes running through Misery are what The Amity Affliction have always been known for and expressing through their music, but it feels like the band are teetering on the edge of some kind of peace. “I said to Ahren [Stringer, bass] we really, fully nailed it this time as far as getting across what we’ve written. He’s done the best emotional expression of the lyrics this time around, I feel like the delivery has been much better and it feels more effective for me – it’s nice it’s translated.”
There’s no way to offer the next observation without sounding totally emo, an interjection Birch finds hilarious, but Misery does sit very well with the macabre end of the emotions spectrum. The Amity Affliction have always nailed it with expressing mental health issues in their music, but this album is one of those releases that work for a particular state of being.
Birch agrees that there’s a sense of immediacy to be found in music that does that. “I have the soundtrack to writing lyrics that I follow fairly constantly with each album, and that’s listening to Elliot Smith and Ryan Adams.
“When I listen to those other musicians I’m tapping back into how I’m feeling and it all flows from there. I definitely feel those emotions from other artists and that’s always what has spurred me on to write lyrics people can connect with in that way.
“As a quote/unquote sad person, it’s nice to listen to sad music because you don’t feel like you’re languishing alone. You feel connected to someone else who’s been through something and that’s a nice feeling, that someone’s out there going through the same thing you are.”
Paying it forward, Birch listens to other artists who make him feel a certain way, he goes to write and then his music makes his listeners feel a certain way. But it’s hard to overlook the considerably minimal presence of screams in Misery, the absence of which may surprise many when it comes to Birch’s traditional method for getting his message across.
There has been backlash over The Amity Affliction’s direction for this album, particularly after they dropped the more mellow ‘Feels Like I’m Dying’, but on the whole, Birch doesn’t know much about it. “I deleted any social media apps that I was spending my hours on tour with, so I haven’t been connected to any feedback.
“I read a bit about ‘Feels Like I’m Dying’ before, and I wasn’t surprised by the negative feedback. That song is by far the craziest on the new album so it was always going to be polarising. I feel like when people have heard the full album it’ll make more sense. The song doesn’t stand out as bad on the album as it does on its own.”
Nevertheless, ‘Feels Like I’m Dying’ isn’t instantly recognisable as an Amity song – but who’s to say the band aren’t allowed to branch out and experiment? “That song is definitely Ahren and Dan [Brown, guitar] stamping their love of pop music onto our band. For me, I was like, ‘Woah this is pretty crazy. I don’t know if it fits with who we are.’ But I liked it; we’re growing as a band so I figured, why fight it? It turned out really cool.
“It’s probably the first album I can honestly say I enjoy start to finish. Front to back it’s the first album I’d be comfortable with playing every song.”
There’s an overriding sense of liberation on this album – is there something going on here that doesn’t meet the eye? “Maybe,” Birch says pensively. “It’s the first album where we’ve really been cohesive and an absolute proper team.
“It’s to do with me, basically. Being an active alcoholic. I recently got diagnosed with bipolar, which makes sense with a lot of things, and just having it and not knowing it and being so manic, so up and down. Ahren remarked on Warped [Tour], because I’m on new medication, that it was so nice to know who was going to be there in the morning,” Birch says.
“Instead of waking up and not knowing like, if they were going to get easily offended Joel or super angry Joel, whatever the case may be. I think I was going through a really bad spot mentally for the album, but we were also working together, really, really well. I think that’s shone through. That’s what you’re hearing, a proper team effort.”
Resolution. Having Birch’s diagnosis and a cohesive sense of teamwork among them, The Amity Affliction have more stability in all areas going forward. “Warped Tour is the worst tour for me, it’s traumatic. I was dealing with separation anxiety from my son, he started to shut off, he’s only two-and-a-half so doesn’t understand why I’m gone for so long – all these things that were happening that were super negative that I was managing to keep it together, make it home in one piece, I think that was a sign of good things to come.”
