Amity’s penchant for sickly sweet hooks and angst-ridden singalongs may be catnip for trolls, but the Aussies’ ear for an unstoppable melody demands respect.
Though there’s nothing on This Could Be Heartbreak that matches Let The Ocean Take Me’s standout anthems, those who have long fallen for the four-piece’s mix of juttering riffs, overwrought, gutteral screams and super-polished choruses will find plenty to like here too.
Opener I Bring The Weather With Me feels like Amity by numbers on first listen, and yet you’ll find yourself frustratingly humming its ‘When I’m go-ooo-oooone!’ refrain for days, and while the album’s title track is so floaty-light it sounds like pure helium, it also packs an earworm that’ll get under your skin long after the album’s over. Sadly, things quickly dip, and though the likes of Nightmare, OMGIMY and Wishbone will doubtless please fans who like their metalcore extra syrupy, they fly by without much lasting impact, while acoustic-y ballad All Fucked Up is like drowning in cotton candy. The scattershot riffing and heads-down heaviness of Blood In My Mouth is enough to end the album on a high, but ultimately, …Heartbreak is business as usual and won’t do much to win over any cynics.
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