Chasing ghosts
| Chasing ghosts | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by The Amity Affliction | ||||
|
Publication |
September 7, 2012 |
|||
|
admission |
2012 |
|||
| Label (s) | Roadrunner Records , UNFD | |||
|
Format (s) |
||||
|
Title (number) |
10 |
|||
|
running time |
41 min 22 sec |
|||
| occupation |
|
|||
|
Studio (s) |
||||
|
||||
Chasing Ghosts is the third studio album by the Australian post-hardcore band The Amity Affliction from Gympie , Queensland . It was officially released worldwide on September 7, 2012 via Roadrunner Records and UNFD specifically in Australia .
background
On September 21, 2011, Roadrunner Records announced that they had signed The Amity Affliction and reissued their second album Youngbloods . On June 7th, 2012, the album called Chasing Ghosts was officially announced. The album was produced by Michael Baskette , who has worked with Incubus and Blessthefall in the past . Less than two months later, Chasing Ghosts, the main single and music video, was released. The album was released in the third half of 2012.
The regular album includes ten tracks, while the Japanese version of the album contains the two songs 15 Pieces of Flare and Snicklefritz , both from the previous album, and a cover version of Lana del Rey's song Born to Die .
Track list
| # | title | length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Chasing ghosts | 4:22 |
| 2. | Life underground | 3:56 |
| 3. | RIP receipt | 3:37 |
| 4th | Open letter | 4:22 |
| 5. | Greens Avenue | 4:35 |
| 6th | I Heart HC | 3:57 |
| 7th | Flowerbomb | 4:00 |
| 8th. | Pabst Blue Ribbon on Ice | 4:04 |
| 9. | Geof sux 666 | 4:13 |
| 10. | Bondi St. Blues | 4:23 |
Controversy
In the United States , the original album cover generated controversy. It shows a male person who has apparently hung himself and symbolizes suicide . Fans of the band believed the group glorified suicide and felt partially assaulted. The cover of the US-American version of the album was edited afterwards and the person was removed from the artwork. Birch announced in a statement that the cover should only represent what happens to people when they "change sides":
"I wrote Chasing Ghosts as a narrative based wholly around someone that has committed suicide and has passed onto the other side. It's a story that I hope people will see for what it is; an example in song of why you should turn to someone close and talk instead of taking that last fatal step towards death prematurely. I just want to reiterate to people that once you're gone, that's it. There's no ghosts. There's no heaven, no hell, just finality and the wreckage left behind in the wake of their decision. "
At first, Birch showed no insight and went on a confrontation course with the fans on the Facebook platform . After the great controversial response from the fans, he wrote that Birch wanted to commit suicide himself, had now written an album about it and wanted to put a person on the album who apparently committed suicide by hanging. A day later, Birch distanced himself from his statements on the official Facebook presence and apologized to the fans of the band for his lack of insight.
promotion
On September 12th 2012 the band started their Chasing Ghosts tour through Australia which was accompanied by The Ghost Inside , Architects and Buried in Verona . The concert tour officially ended on October 8, 2012. Architects used the tour as part of their The Daybreaker Almost World Tour . In the summer of 2013, The Amity Affliction played for the first time on the Warped Tour . While performing in Portland , Oregon , drummer Ryan Burt injured his eye and Glass Cloud's Chad Hasty stepped in. The band had to cancel a gig in Pittsburgh , also as part of the Warped Tour, because singer Joel Birch was about to dehydrate . The following concert in Cleveland could only take place because Sam Carter from Architects, Jason Butler from letlive and Chris Roetter from Like Moths to Flames stepped in for Birch, who had to be hospitalized due to an unknown illness.
In September 2013 The Amity Affliction was touring several European countries as part of their Brothers in Arms Tour . The concert tour was accompanied by In Hearts Wake and Landscapes . The tour went through Germany , France , the United Kingdom and Belgium , among others . The tour was continued in Australia in October. Here played Stick to Your Guns and Chelsea Grin concerts on all eight.
success
Chasing Ghosts sold around 13,000 within the first week after its release, which meant that the group was able to reach the top of the Australian album charts for the first time without having received airplay on the radio or switched to TV spots beforehand . According to an article on News.com.au , the massive presence of the musicians on social networks was enough for this. The album initially stayed in the charts for five consecutive weeks and rose again for two more weeks in March 2013.
In the United States an entry into the national album charts was missed, but the album entered several genre-related charts. In 2013, Chasing Ghosts was awarded a gold record in Australia for 35,000 records sold. It is the first album by the band to go gold.
| Official album charts | Top position |
Weeks | Sales | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Australia album top 50
|
1 | 7th | 35,000+ |
 gold gold
|
| Genre-related album charts | Top position |
Weeks | ||
 United States Hard Rock Albums
|
72 | 1 | ||
|
United States Heatseekers
|
30th | 1 |
Reviews
The reviews for Chasing Ghosts in the German-speaking music media are rather mixed: Matthias Weckmann from the German Metal Hammer takes the opinion that The Amity Affliction on Chasing Ghosts “uses the scheme F , which he uses in the cross between youthful happy song and rough contrasting voice punky-brisk metal riffs and the sugared highlights. ”He also criticizes the missing song ideas and misses emotions in the entire album. Jan Wischkowski from Metal.de, however, is positively surprised by the album. He writes that the group did not reach him until he listened to the record a second time, but with a different character. He finds passion, aggression and sweeping energy in the entire album. Wischkowski finds strengths in Joel Birch's screams , but finds the clear sung passages weak. As an absolute figurehead, the critic in the song Open Letter states that despite its severity it has enough pop appeal and a catchy chorus. Wischkowski also identifies groups like Atreyu , Alexisonfire , Poison the Well and The Ghost Inside as musical influences.
Chris Popp from musikreviews.de can't get much from the group. He writes that the music brings little new or even interesting across. The group hardly manages to put its own stamp on the ten songs, even if the compositions of the band are complexly arranged. He attests at most a Disney character to the highly sung parts of the album . The Amity Affliction do not manage to step out of the shadows of their musical role models. Sebastian Berning from Powermetal.de, on the other hand, sees The Amity Affliction as the next big thing in metalcore from Australia . The group is not reinventing the genre of music, but they manage to create several smaller hits. He mentions the song Open Letter as an example , which is picking up speed with the melodic passages of the song. Like the other critics, he sees Ahren Stringer's clear vocals as a major flaw on the album. Nevertheless, he attests to the band producing a respectable Metalcore.
In the English-language trade press, however, the album received a much more positive response. The album received a rating of 77 percent from four album reviews on the Metacritic platform , with Alternative Press , Rock Sound and the Kerrang! gave an extremely positive rating, while the review in Q Magazine was rather average.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Blabbermouth.net : THE AMITY AFFLICTION Signs With ROADRUNNER RECORDS
- ↑ Bryne Yancey: Alternative Press : Exclusive: The Amity Affliction announce new album, 'Chasing Ghosts'
- ↑ Chad Childers: Loudwire : Amity Affliction Unveil 'Chasing Ghosts' Video
- ↑ The Goon Squad: Australian Hysteria : THE MOST // Controversial Album Covers of All Time
- ↑ Amplify Young Guns: Amplify : TOP 5 ORIGINALLY CENSORED ALBUM ARTWORKS ( Memento of the original from July 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Scott Fitzsimons: The Music : The Amity Affliction Apologize For 'Vicious' Comments In Cover Scandal
- ↑ SOSGermany: Outspoken Magazine : ARCHITECTS - The Daybraker Almost World Tour
- ↑ Bridjed Mendyuk: Alternative Press : The Amity Affliction drummer in surgery due to injury Warped Tour
- ↑ Philip Obenchain: Alternative Press : The Amity Affliction singer hospitalized; Architects, letlive., Like Moths To Flames singers fill in
- ↑ Dark Lord: Stormbringer.at : THE AMITY AFFLICTION, LANDSCAPES, IN HEARTS WAKE - Europe tour dates including Vienna concert!
- ^ Australian Broadcasting Corporation : Amity Affliction announce 2013 Brothers In Arms tour
- ↑ News.com.au : Social media helps Amity Affliction album debut at # 1
- ↑ a b c Chart tracking: AU - US
- ^ Australian Recording Industry Association : Album Accreditations of 2013
- ^ Matthias Weckmann: Metal Hammer : The Amity Affliction - Chasing Ghosts Critique
- ↑ Jan Wischkowski: Metal.de : The Amity Affliction - Chasing Ghosts
- ↑ Chris Popp: musikreviews.de : The Amity Affliction - Chasing Ghosts criticism
- ^ Sebastian Berning: Powermetal.de : The Amity Affliction - Chasing Ghosts criticism
- ^ Metacritic : The Amity Affliction - Chasing Ghosts
