It’s been a long hard road out of Gympie, Queensland, for post-hardcore outfit The Amity Affliction. Taking their name in tribute to a close friend who was killed in a road traffic accident, pain and loss is hardwired into the band’s DNA. It is a struggle and strife that has been harnessed to create a sound that is equal parts melodic and discordant, the two extremes fusing in new and exciting ways to ensure they’ve remained fresh and vibrant, even twenty-three years after their formation. True to form, studio album number nine, House Of Cards, had its fair share of trauma in its creation, yet finds The Amity Affliction striving towards higher ground.

After a very public parting of the ways with founding member Ahren Stringer, things in The Amity Affliction camp could quite easily have turned sour, yet the remaining three-quarters of the band have drawn upon their inner strength, and that quality shines through every note of House Of Cards. If there is one thing the band have learnt through years of gigging then it is how to make an entrance, and House Of Cards’ introduction is a slow builder that seeps into the listener’s consciousness; like the volume being turned up incrementally on a stereo, ‘Vida Nueva’ is an insidious number which kind of lulls you into a false sense of security and means that when opener proper ‘Kickboxer’ kicks in, it kicks in hard. All the essential ingredients are here, from the clinical rhythm section to the dive bombing guitars via the red raw, caustic vocals, this is pretty much everything you’d want from an Amity Affliction song and it sets the tone for the rest of the record.

Aside from being the band’s first album without Ahren Stringer, this is also the first record to be produced solely by guitarist Dan Brown, and he has certainly left his mark on proceedings. The keys added to ‘Kickboxer’ make a nice foil the general maelstrom that swirls from the speakers, and like a juggler keeping several balls in the air at the same time, Dan balances the loud and quiet, the heavy and the lithe, perfectly. It transpires to make House Of Cards perhaps the band’s most satisfying album, but it is certainly their most mature with songs such as ‘Break The Chains’ being at once visceral and cerebral (that duality again), meaning this album will lend itself to rowdy gigs and late night, private musings equally well.

As with previous Amity Affliction albums, there’s a strong lyrical focus on personal trauma, and whilst they are themes to which we all can relate, this isn’t the sound of a band wallowing in self pity, rather it has a strong redemptive edge and songs such as ‘Speaking In Tongues’ offer the listener a way out of the maze. House Of Cards is built on solid foundations.

• House Of Cards is released via Pure Noise Records on 24th April 2026.

• The Amity Affliction Official Website

Track List:

1. Vida Nueva
2. Kickboxer
3. House Of Cards
4. Heaven Sent
5. Bleed
6. Break These Chains
7. Beso De La Muerte
8. Swan Dive
9. Speaking In Tongues
10. Afterlife
11. Reap What You Sow
12. Eternal War