The Amity Affliction Brought Their House of Cards Album Tour and A Packed Line-Up to Metropol in Berlin
Written and Captured By | Chantal Burau
In order to promote their latest full-length album, The Amity Affliction stopped in Berlin as part of their similarly titled House of Cards Album Tour at the Metropolitan. They offered fans a packed lineup and were joined by Orthodox, Varials, and Silent Planet.
Entering the palatial venue, the room wasn’t too packed at first, with multiple fans still waiting outside. Orthodox opened the evening, and the quartet from Tennessee heated up the crowd pretty quickly. With a nice and heavy blend of metallic hardcore and nu-metal, accompanied by an energetic performance from vocalist Adam Easterling, who jumped and moved from side to side while animating the crowd, they set the tone for the evening and prepared the audience for the other bands.
Up next were Varials, with a guest appearance by Easterling later in the set. The Pennsylvanian metalcore outfit continued as heavily as Orthodox had left off, with their screams and powerful guitar riffs echoing throughout the room. Looking around, the room had filled up considerably during both sets and slowly continued to do so.
Next on the list were Silent Planet, who showcased their emotive and dynamic blend of post-hardcore and progressive metalcore, with technical precision on the drums and tight guitar work.
Last but not least, it was finally time for The Amity Affliction to hit the stage. Where there had been a bit of free space earlier in the crowd during the two previous bands, there was now barely any room left. Starting their setlist off strong with “Pittsburgh,” followed by “Drag the Lake,” the fans—who had taken until around the last third of the other bands’ sets to warm up to crowd surfing—were already crowd surfing within the first two songs of TAA’s set, with singer Joel Birch smiling and fist-bumping some of them.
Having last seen them around seven or eight years ago, and with a few lineup changes since then, hearing and seeing songs like “Pittsburgh” and “Chasing Ghosts” (chosen by the fans over “Open Letter”) live again still felt a bit like reuniting with an old friend.
The setlist featured, of course, older fan-favorite songs from Chasing Ghosts and Let the Ocean Take Me, as well as songs from the latest album, such as “House of Cards” and “Kickboxer.” With Joel’s raw and harsh vocals echoing through the room, balancing the metalcore breakdowns with the melodic choruses, they delivered an energetic and impassioned performance.
Ending their set with “Death’s Hand” and “Soak Me in Bleach” as an encore, the Aussie quartet brought the evening to a close on a high note for the fans.
