#Australian metal

[gthdhd666]

Alright... Let the demon speak!

[toolatetocallanambulance]

Let the Ocean Take Me - The Amity Affliction

The Amity Affliction is a Post-hardcore/Metalcore band from Gympie, Queensland, Australia. Many of their songs deal with highly personal subject matter such as depression, suicide, and substance abuse.

The Amity Affliction's current lineup consists of:

Joel Birch – lead vocals; lyricist 

Ahren Stringer – co-lead vocals; bass

Dan Brown – rhythm guitar; lead guitar; backing vocals

Joe Longobardi – drums 

With current (2024) touring musicians:

Tim Beken – clean vocals, bass

David Parkes – drums

'Let the Ocean Take Me' is The Amity Affliction's fourth studio album, released on June 5th, 2014. Spanning 10 tracks in 41:04 minutes, the theme of this album revolves around depression, anxiety and eventual self-discovery. Inspired in part by a near-death experience on 2013's Vans Warped Tour, the album takes the listener through a treacherous journey. With many references to bodies of water; The Amity Affliction portrays a feeling of helplessness and suffocation water clogging up the airways.

'Pittsburgh' starts off the album, alluding to their Warped Tour incident where lead singer Joel Birch’s near death experience occurred. Due to extreme dehydration and too much alcohol, Joel collapsed and suffered a seizure.

'Don't Lean on Me' is one of the most popular tracks from this album and also the origin of the album name. Baring their vulnerabilities, as Birch and Stringer take ownership of their despair they beg the listener to 'please don't drown with me' and 'let the ocean take me' seemingly accepting their deathly fate.

Soon though a turning point occurs within the emotional turmoil with 'Never Alone,' themes of fighting together and defeat of loneliness. The song ends with a voicemail with tales of substance issues and a longing for relation.

'F.M.L.' continues the trend of defeating their emotional turmoil but with doubt 'when will this ever end?' the narrator is unsure of their life path but 'I've got to find my way back again', they are willing to try.

'My Father's Son' continues the trend, with the narrator's introspection into their anger and its source. 'Give It All' ends this turbulent album with the message of juxtaposing ideas; one of defeat but also those of success.

Personal Opinion: The Amity Affliction was one of the first metal-adjacent bands I've ever listened to. Their deeply personal lyrics about depression and anxiety spoke to me during extremely turbulent and lost times. In some ways, The Amity Affliction was my gateway into metal music. I find their music to be melodically enjoyable and cathartic as the vocals conveys raw and real emotions. A while ago, I attended their 10th anniversary tour for 'Let the Ocean Take Me', it was an ethereal experience seeing such an emotionally honest performance.

[post-punk-author-anthony-day]

Mitch…

rip buddy

[art3mus]

Hand drawn patch of Sound Awake by Karnivool

[love-me-like-a-reptile]

She wraps me in her web

Looks at me and licks her lips

I try and fight it

But I'm driven wild by her hips

[plasticbubbleboy]

[sonic-gonzo]

Last night at the Metro Theatre Sydney Australia - NEPTUNE POWER FEDERATION (080623) 

[cavedwellermusic]

Pizza Death - Reign of the Anticrust (2023)

Matt Lynch takes a look at Reign of the Anticrust, the new album from Melbourne, Australia's pizza thrash champions Pizza Death, released July 10th on Disdain Records and CoreTex. Originally written for 4ZZZ.

Pizza Death has the toppings of various Melbourne bands and are now two years into a delicious campaign to champion pizza thrash; a campaign in which the gimmick of the band feeds into how good the music is and how good the music is in turn feeds how good the gimmick is. Reign of the Anticrust stuffs 20 tracks of headbanging, fist pumping thrash much like their previous record Slice of Death. On this sophomore release however, the run time is pushed out to a comparatively marathon 27 minutes and this extension allows for all the flavours to be appropriately cooked in and it all melts seamlessly together.

[false-sense-0f-sanity]

“Jerk were an Australian industrial metal band formed in 1998. They released a sole album, When Pure Is Defiled (April 2003), with the line-up of Charles Cilia, Leeno Dee, Johnathan Devoy and Lamar Lowder, which peaked at No. 38 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Their song "Sucked In" was used in the video games, Need for Speed: Underground and NHL 2004. Jerk supported gigs by Marilyn Manson, Insane Clown Posse, Killing Joke and Disturbed on their respective tours.”

[metalsongoftheday]

Wednesday, June 21: The Loom of Time, "The Cries of the Weak"

Australia was known for generating metal bands that played to certain trends while also remaining a bit out of time, largely because there was a certain earthiness to them that kept the music from strictly adhering to genre conventions.  And The Loom of Time was no different, with NihilReich and “The Cries of the Weak” plowing the fields with an unwieldy blend of doom, black and avant-garde metal with very slight elements of symphonic metal and prog.  The death metal elements were largely confined to the occasional grunting vocals, and while the riffing was immediately identifiable as doom, the swagger in the rhythm added another dimension while the grandiosity in the arrangement made The Loom of Time very much their own thing.  Tracks like this were not immediately classifiable, but were very compelling and had no trouble drawing listeners in, even if just to try to figure out what exactly was going on.

[thrashmaiden]

Evilutione5150

@evilutione5150   

Writing this here seems like a better idea then hammering it out in my physical journal since this is where our friendship began.

Preparing to age myself heavily as I pour my thoughts out into the tumblr void. Thinking about how online culture helped shape me, helped me find friends and connect with the various fringe subcultures littered around the country. What started as a way to pass time in a telco job with unlimited access to the net and a barely basic understanding I started this Tumblr roughly 12 years ago and Acky aka @evilutione5150 was one of my first friends. 

He joked with me about music, art, 80s t.v or movies and never missed a pun or 10 deep simpsons quote. He was kind and abrupt and not once did he slide into my DMS looking for an ass pic. 

For a girl on tumblr into heavy metal facing the brunt of aggression from men for ‘doing it for attention’ combined with the misstep of using the hashtag #metalchick to try and find other girls into metal and finding only hate, he was a breath of fresh air. No hate, no pick up lines or sleeze. We just chatted like we were stood next to each other at a show. 

The first time he posted about one of my fave local and best mates band I instantly reblogged it, excited, they were going to absolutely kill it and they were making people happy and here was the proof, in Ackys words, they did it! He enthusiastically chatted with me about them and would tell me about their shows from across the country. 

He was not shy with coming forward about what he did and did not like but more then anything he was inclusive and passionate. Seems like everyone is striving to be exclusive these days, which is wonderful, but he didnt need to learn that, or be shown, he didnt need to be shamed or bullied into it, it was just a small part of the foundation of Acky. 

His passion saw him front of the gig, supporting the scene with promos, podcasts, designing shirts and sharing information on pretty much every platform, and for free. 

He did so much, just this one guy and now he is just gone?

His shirt designs are still in my top 3 rotations and I have taken my ‘ big sunglasses, very important’  shirt on every trip I have been on and it has been the best conversational piece. His humor translated well through his art and shirt designs. The dry blunt Aussie humor mixed with heavy metal references have lead to me meeting so many new people and each time I would let him know....dude....people LOVE your shirts! 

so whats a t shirt? whats the big deal and how does this make him inclusive?

Ackys humor made me feel seen and made me feel like I had somewhere when for most of my life I have been a nomad. He created a way for people to talk to me, to point at my shirt, laugh and strike a convo and some of those interactions have turned into life long friendships. 

I'm sure now there are plenty of fifth element or robocop album cover mash ups but at the time he was doing something really cool for so many people involved in fandoms that spanned so far. I chat to so many people about wrestling, or troma films or sci-fi and retro gaming because of Acky. His humour just translated well enough and was not at the expense of others (unless you were a politician) nor was it just a cash grab because pizza+ninja turtles+slayer=profit. He just threw his passions and artistry together and ran with whatever came out which in turn created a wicked community around him. 

We initially bonded over BLS, we had the same necklace charm with the logo on a dinky ball chain straight from the 2010s and would discuss at length what shows we would go to, albums we liked, new projects Zakk worked on and he would share his own musical talent which he had a lot of. He spoke kindly of his son and quite frequently would sacrifice his time or skip shows he had been talking about and dreaming about to spend time with him and not once did he complain about the trade off. 

I truly think that over the years he has been my biggest supporter in whatever I do. My strongest confident and kindest advocate. We shared our rough times and he would recommend songs or thow me a meme to let me know he understood. 

Now as his name slips down my message inbox, and as I post, his notification isn't the first to pop up anymore I feel a new kind of lonely. 

Its a kind of lonely I haven't felt since we met from a feeling that goes deeper then a romance or a family bond. He made a community and he let me in.

I hope I made him feel less lonely and I hope I could be there for him the way he was for me. I hope he knew he was loved and that his art and the community he built will live on in some way. I hope his spot at shows is filled and someone else is there to reach out to let others know they have somewhere to belong, if not in person then just online.

He went through a lifetime of pain and discomfort so the idea he is relaxing with his guitar, or cracking his fingers to write out another review or chuckling to himself as he edits his face into another metallica meme is a nice one. 

But most of all I hope he found some happiness or comfort in the really wonderful way he impacted those that had the pleasure to know him.

As time unravels and my tears settle, I will have more to say and share but for now Im posting this knowing he wont ever see it, when after so many years on here, he was one of the only people I kept this blog alive for, for so long. 

[metalhead-brainrot]

[2024.11.19] Radio Brainrot - Magenta is my favorite color to paint!

future funk || 2024 || ARG || business casual

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death metal || 2024 || SWE || Transcending Obscurity Records

A recent release from Revolting, another project of the prolific Rogga Johansson. Artwork by Juanjo Castellano, who is also prolific; I recognize him from Agma - Wombbath and a few Paganizer releases.

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death doom || 2024 || Melbourne, AUS || Free download codes

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[lenreli]

Terminal Sleep - Spineless

[gbhbl]

EP review: Vilify - Fever Dream (Self Released)

Newcastle, Australia’s fiercest female-fronted four-piece, Vilify release their sophomore EP, Fever Dream on the 19th of April. Vilify are a close group of friends who officially formed a heavy band together in late 2020 with the collective goal of using their art to discuss issues close to home and heart from both a personal and observational perspective. Since their inception Vilify have…