4/5

Littered with a debris of noise from the battle between love, unity, fear and self-loathing, The Amity Affliction offers a hard-hitting tussle between psychotic noise, hope and defiant screams of rage.

Singer Joel Birch’s lyrics — including an angst-ridden account of his near-death experience — are ripped from the gaping wounds of a soul laid bare.

Pitched at 100dB or thereabouts it is, to say the least, a passionate performance.

With a sweat-drenched, sell-out crowd hanging onto every word the Jekyll-and-Hyde blend of Birch (pictured) and soulful bassist Ahren Stringer spits, snarls and harmonises through the tracks from the band’s latest album Let The Ocean Take Me.

Flanked by the muscle of guitarists Troy Brady and Dan Brown and the driving force of Ryan Burt’s drumming, Birch and Stringer create instantaneous mayhem with metal-core anthem Pittsburgh.

Lost and Fading ramp up the thunderous tension in any mind left not yet reeling and Death’s Hand sees Burt’s percussion take on the complex heartbeat of the track, while The Weigh Down features devastatingly aggressive riffs from Brady and Brown.

Don’t Lean On Me cleverly steadies the set with a return to the hard and fast delivery which is what The Amity Affliction are of course about. Money’s worth.

Let The Ocean Take Me is on Roadrunner Records.

Peter Lindley