The Amity Affliction Brought 10 Years Of Let The Ocean Take Me To The Franklin Music Hall In Philadelphia

For a good portion of 2024, The Amity Affliction have been ripping stages across the US on their Let The Ocean Take Me - 10 Year Anniversary Tour. The tour sees the Australian metalcore veterans playing their notable 2014 album in its entirety along with other fan favorite classics in celebration of the album’s 10 year anniversary. The tour made its way to the Franklin Music Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 26th and it was a sea of heaviness and chaos. Support acts came in the likes of Mugshot, Dying Wish, and Currents.

Getting the crowd warmed up first was Mugshot, a metalcore band from San Jose, California that is currently signed to Pure Noise Records. It’s members make up of Ringo Waterman (vocals), Michael Demko (guitar), Ciro Abraham (bass), and Connor Haines (drums) and they first emerged onto the scene in 2016 with the release of their debut studio album Dull Boy. In 2021, Mugshot released their EP Empty Heaven and it was an overnight success. Its lead single, “Egodystonic” currently sits at #1 on Spotify with over 4.6 million streams. On March 6th, they released their latest single, “24 Thorns” which features Kane Gelaznik of Vomit Forth.

Mugshot’s set was hard and heavy with no signs of holding back. The band played an equal amount of songs from their EPs Cold Will and Empty Heaven as well as their brand new single, “24 Thorns”. The pit went crazy for them as Watermann was calling for two steps and circle pits on almost every song and even gave Pennsylvania hardcore a shoutout. Both Demko and Abraham had incredible stage presence and were constantly throwing kicks in the air, jumping up down and spinning their guitars around. Waterman showcased incredible vocal power with very deep growls and was commanding the crowd to give him more two-stepping and more moshing, which the crowd delivered. On “24 Thorns” their touring photographer Thad aka Seventh Circle Media came onstage to cover Gelaznik‘s part of the song. The Philadelphia crowd responded very well to Mugshot and didn’t hesitate to throw windmills and spin kicks in all directions in the pit and a huge circle pit formed during the song “Cold Will”. The band finished their set with “Violent Ends” and ended it with a bang by playing a devastating breakdown that sent the pit into a frenzy. Mugshot got the crowd riled up and the blood pumping but the night had only just begun.

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Next up was the Portland, Oregon-based metalcore band Dying Wish. Dying Wish made their presence known in 2018 and are currently signed to SharpTone Records with its current lineup made up of Emma Boster (vocals), Sam Reynolds (guitar), Pedro Carrillo (guitar), Jon Mackey (bass), and Jeff Yambra (drums). Dying Wish established their identity by making music that focuses on unity, revolution, the environment and personal issues such a as trauma. The band have released two studio albums so far with their most recent one, Symptoms of Survival being released on November 3rd, 2023.

Dying Wish started with “Symptoms of Survival”, the title track off of their 2023 album of the same name. As soon as the opening chugs began, the pit opened up and everyone was throwing windmills and spin kicks in the pit. Mackey, not impressed with what he was seeing, called for the people in the pit to give him more and Reynolds called for crowd surfing before getting into the next song, “Watch My Promise Die” which is the second track off of the same album. Fans in the pit were two-stepping and continued to dance which then turned into a circle pit. Security upfront was put to work with the amount of crowd surfing that was happening. The song ended with a devastating and heavy-down tempo breakdown that the pit went wild to.

Emma Boster is one of the most talented metalcore vocalists in the scene as she is able perform with bloodcurdling screams and will throw in some clean singing here and there which she did on “Watch My Promise Die”, “Torn From Your Silhouette”, “Lost In The Fall”. She had a lot of energy on stage too as she was two-stepping and throwing kicks up in the air, and didn’t even break a sweat too. Dying Wish ended their set with “Lost In The Fall” and “Innate Thirst” and it surely was away to close a set. Mackey told fans to get their phones out and the Philly crowd lit all of Franklin Music Hall up for the final portion of “Lost In The Fall” where Boster was serenading the crowd. Not wanting the end their set in a soft way, the band picked the energy back up one last time with “Innate Trust” and the crowd broke out into one last circle pit, spinning the entire floor. The pit kept going crazy and Boster went up to the barricade and screamed the rest of the song with the fans down at the front. Dying Wish has always been a well-received band on the East Coast and the bar has always been set very high for them when they come around and they continue to blow expectations. There’s no doubt in my mind that the band gained new fans that night.

Taking the stage after Dying Wish was the Connecticut-based metalcore quintet Currents. Currents was formed in 2011 and their current lineup consists of Brian Wille (vocals), Chris Wiseman (guitar), Ryan Castaldi (guitar), Christian Pulgarin (bass) and Matt Young (drums). The band has been touring relentlessly since releasing their fourth album, The Death We Seek, in May of last year, having toured with Polaris last fall and have opened up for bands like August Burns Red and Killswitch Engage. The band have also embarked on their first ever US headlining tour in the spring of 2023 and have conducted an headlining EU/UK tour back in February.

Currents’ set comprised of songs from their two most recent albums, The Death We Seek and The Way It Ends. The band used “Never There”, the intro track to The Way It Ends as their set intro, easing it in while at the same time, building up the anticipation that would lead to an explosive transition into “Monsters”, one of the band’s most streamed songs to date, gaining over 20 million streams on Spotify alone. Wille, being the talented vocals he is, was switching from mid screams to clean vocals seamlessly and even threw in some high screams here and there that added to the performance. The fans held their hands high in the air and waved them back and forth on the final portion of “Kill The Ache” and were crowd surfing in waves during “Better Days”. Those that weren’t doing either were signing along to the words or keeping it wild in the pit. I couldn’t help but notice Pulgarin because he was doing everything except standing still. He would spin around in place and do running jump kicks from left to right on stage riser while playing and his backup screams complimented nicely with Wille‘s vocals on “Kill The Ache”.

Wille thanked the the crowd for coming out and reflected on how Philadelphia had always been good to Currents, mentioning that they spent a lot of time in their early days playing at small places like the Voltage Lounge which made the old school fans in the house happy. Castaldi played some very melodic harmonies on top of Wiseman’s brutal riffs on “The Death We Seek”. Currents finished their set with “Remember Me” and “Guide Us Home”, both of which are off The Death We Seek. “Remember Me” is one of the most popular songs on the album and may very well be one of their best songs that they have written, as it currently sits at #4 on Spotify with over 13 million streams. The song is very relevant to modern times as it touches upon technology’s impact on people and hot it affects people’s views of the world as well as each other which can have a negative effect on relationships. Everyone on the floor was singing along to the words and other were crowd surfing to the front while singing as well. Currents finished their set with “Guide Us Home”, which is the last track off The Death We Seek and it was a fitting end to their performance. The crowd sang together in unison one last time to every word and got whatever moshing they had left out with Wiseman playing an insanely melodic guitar solo to ring the song out and bring Currents phenomenal set to a close.

Now it was time for The Amity Affliction. The Amity Affliction has been a band for over twenty years now; having formed in 2003 in Gympie, Queensland, Australia and are currently signed to Pure Noise Records. The band has gone through multiple lineup changes but their current lineup consists of Joel Birch (vocals), Ahren Stringer (bass/vocals), Dan Brown (guitar), and Joe Longobardi (drums). Due to personal reasons however, Stringer had to withdraw from the rest of the tour and True North vocalist, Tim Beken stepped in. 2024 marks the 10 year anniversary of their fourth studio album Let The Ocean Take Me and the band has been celebrating it by playing the album in its entirety. Let The Ocean Take Me was released on June 6th, 2014 and is the band’s most successful albums to date and is home to some of the band’s most popular songs such as “Pittsburgh”, “Don‘t Lean On Me”, and the heavy hitter; “Death’s Hand”. The album went Platinum in Australia and has sold over 70,000 copies while also landing on #1 on the ARIA Charts, #3 on the US Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums and #31 on the US Billboard 200.

The band made their way to the stage and Birch took center stage; not even a second later he screams “I‘VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR AN EXIT!” the opening line to “Pittsburgh” and fans immediately sang the words right back to him before the rest of the song kicked in. “Pittsburgh” is the opening track of Let The Ocean Take Me and is the band’s most popular song. The song sits at #1 on Spotify with over 77 million streams and the music video has gathered over 27 million views. The fan’s connection to this one song is extremely intimate as it has helped them cope with their struggles like loss and mental health issues. The song was written about a time where the band was playing Warped Tour in 2013 and on the Pittsburgh date, Birch nearly died from a seizure after drinking heavily; the extreme heat that day didn’t help either. Even though it was only the first song, “Pittsburgh” was the song that the fans screamed the loudest to. It wasn’t just a sing along, it was fans pouring their emotion and pain out in their voices and releasing it to the music. The energy of the song didn't reach its peak until the hook, where all of Franklin Music Hall drowned out the backtrack of the children's choir, chanting the song’s chorus, only to go back into the moshing that started at the start of the song.

Birch’s vocal performance was on point. He was throwing in high quality screams and deep growls wherever the songs called for them. What makes him stand out the most among other vocalists is the fact that you can feel his emotion in his vocals. Birch pours his heart out in the songs and whether you are listening to the studio version on your phone or watching the band perform live, you are always guaranteed to feel something when listening to Birch. Beken had massive shoes to fill and barely had anytime to prepare, having joined the tour on such short notice and yet, he put on a miraculous performance and did Stringer’s parts justice. The amazing thing about this tour was that, being that they were playing Let The Ocean Take Me in its entirety, that meant the band had played songs off the album that haven’t been played live in a long time like “Lost & Fading”, “The Weigh Down”, “Never Alone”, “Forest Fire”, “Give It All” and ”My Father’s Son” which has never been played live before. The intensity of the night reached its peak when The Amity Affliction played “Death’s Hand”, one of their most heaviest songs. The song is notable for its devastating breakdown. Birch ordered the Philly crowd to split the room in half for a wall of death. The room split apart like the Red Sea with both sides getting ready for the devastation they were about to commence. Birch screamed the first few lines in the bridge before stopping and allowing the crowd to scream the iconic line; “HEY DEATH, GET F*CKED” which led into the breakdown, signaling both sides to collide into each other and turned the whole floor into a war zone.

In wrapping up the Let The Ocean Take Me section of the night, the band concluded it with the album’s final track “Give It All”. The fans were singing along in unison for the entire song and Birch even stopped at some points to let the crowd take over. After they finished the song, a video montage played on the screens of the band‘s career from their humble beginnings to where they are now. The montage showed lots of footage with Stringer and the crowd was chanting Ahren’s name the entire time. It was bittersweet not seeing him at the show but the love and support the fans have for him remains strong. The bond between the band itself and the fans have always remained strong as fans have stated that the band’s music have saved their lives and were there for them when they were at their lowest. There is no band that can connect with their fanbase like The Amity Affliction can.

The rest of the set contained fan favorite songs from previous albums and two songs off of their most recent album, Not Without My Ghosts and they began this portion of the set with a song off that album title “I See Dead People”. Fans noticed the song instantly when Birch screamed the words “I HEAR THEIR VOICES IN MY HEAD!!” The song was written in dedication to the late Australian rapper and longtime friend of the band, Louie Knuxx who passed away in 2021. Footage of Knuxx appeared on the backing screens while Birch muffled over an audio recording of Knuxx’s lines that the band took from his song, “Dear God, Who Don’t Exist”. “I See Dead People” packs a heavy punch and was the second heaviest song of the night. Birch and Brown traded screams and growls and Longobardi was blast beating away at the drums. One of most fun parts of the night outside of the Let The Ocean Take Me portion was when they played “Drag The Lake”, which is off their 2018 album, Misery. “Drag The Lake” is a very catchy and melodic song; one that is fun to sing along to. The whole room sang with Birch and Beken and the crowd surfing came in massive waves throughout the whole song. The Amity Affliction wrapped things up with “Soak Me In Bleach”, taken from their 2020 album, Everyone Loves You…Once You Leave Them. The song has been a staple closing song for the band’s live performances since its release and is known for its catchy chorus. With the intention of ending the night with a bang and getting the last remaining energy out of the crowd, Birch ordered the fans to get down on their knees, then after counting to 3, he screamed “JUMP!”. The crowd, with every last bit of energy they had left, got their feet off the ground and the room exploded into one last celebration and sang the final chorus with Beken.

The Amity Affliction gave Philadelphia a performance they will never forget and a chance to hear a monumental metalcore album live from front to back for the first, and most likely only, time. It didn't feel the same without Stringer there and he was greatly missed but Beken did his parts justice and many fans brought signs showing their love and support for Stringer. The tour will continue until June 6th in Los Angelas, California and after that, the band will take their 10 year celebrations across Europe this summer and will follow up with a tour down under in their home country of Australia this winter with Ice Nine Kills, We Came As Romans and Heavensgate. If you’re near any of the dates that they have coming up, I would highly recommend getting your tickets now because this tour is a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear Let The Ocean Take Me live.