It is impossible to consider the music of THE AMITY AFFLICTION as anything but visceral, emotional and relentless in its energy and impact.

Their storied career has produced eight studio albums that have become torchbearers for many formative chapters of Australian metal music; as a band, THE AMITY AFFLICTION has firmly established their place as one of the country’s most enduring names of the heavy genre.

In 2026, the band embrace change and reinvigoration more than before with the creation and execution of their long awaited ninth studio album, the epic HOUSE OF CARDS. The record, created with new member and clean vocalist JONNY REEVES, sees the four-piece stride forward into new creative territory; tightly gripping the reins of control over their future. 

As a result, they have produced an album of material that represents some of the band’s most personal lyricism to date, buoyed by some of their heaviest and most cohesive music in their catalogue.

Fans have been given tastes of the ferocity behind HOUSE OF CARDS across a string of massive singles including the album’s title track, ‘BLEED’, and ‘HEAVEN SENT’. Strong standalones, these songs blend just as well as part of the album’s broader palette. 

For JOEL BIRCH, this album is an incredibly personal one; a project he explains is “almost entirely written about my mother”, and experiences he has navigated as a young person. The songs thread together different memories and chapters of his life, delivered with vulnerability and passion.

“…If it isn’t about my mother specifically, it is about things that I have experienced that are directly tied to my experience growing up and where that has landed me now.  ‘Break These Chains’ is directly tied to that and the confusion I felt when dealing with my mother dying and all the crazy shit she had at her house, ‘Speaking In Tongues’ is about the hypocrisy of my mother sending me off to church constantly throughout my life and my very negative experiences within said church, ‘Afterlife’ is me musing on my lack of belief that there is an afterlife, ‘Reap What You Sow’ follows on from there in its own way and ‘Eternal War’ is the closer that explains how I find myself feeling a lot of the time. 

There is a line in there “the fool is blind the hand is dealt” which I wrote about my consistent hope that one day my mother would change, written in the context of a gambling addict chasing the perfect hand.”  JOEL BIRCH

The addition of Reeves into the fold adds new chemistry to what THE AMITY AFFLICTION had already honed and refined across previous album cycles. Providing effortless contrast and dynamics when coupled with Birch’s heavy vocals, the listener experiences highlights of the duo’s vocals at numerous points (‘BREAK THESE CHAINS’, ‘SWAN DIVE’, ‘REAP WHAT YOU SOW’).

THE AMITY AFFLICTION – Birch, Reeves and the talented DAN BROWN and JOE LONGOBARDI – manifest pure power with HOUSE OF CARDS, in a way that will serve as a reminder of the band’s passion and dedication to the craft.

This is an album of songs that navigates dark themes including grief, addiction, rage and loss, in a way that seeks catharsis and release.