In their most emotion-fueled work of art yet, Australian post-hardcore The Amity Affliction put out their fifth studio album on Aug. 12 known as “This Could be Heartbreak.” While it has taken longer to get into it than other albums by the band, I can say after listening to the album cover-to-cover multiple times it is probably my favorite album the band has put out to date. That being said, I do think there a few too many times it sounds similar in the choruses and a few parts of the song structures to their previous album “Let the Ocean Take Me.”

The Amity Affliction is one of those bands that has never had an album or a song that I did not like. Not only is the music the perfect mixture of catchiness and metal, the lyrics are relatable and it is almost therapeutic to listen to them. Vocalists Ahren Stringer and Joel Birch have gone through a lot on their time on this earth and they put out a lifeline for their fans who deal with similar through their music.

The lyrics of This Could Be Heartbreak are the band’s darkest to date. They deal with the grief of losing loved ones, the pain of being alone and the feeling of not being able to overcome depression and suicidal thoughts. It is clear that put even more work into the lyrics on this album than normal. The combination of Birch’s hoarse growls and Stringers soaring melodies melt together into eleven spine chilling tracks.

As far as instrumentals go, the album mixes elements of melody and hardcore to provide the perfect background to the lyrical delivery. Guitarist Dan Brown dabbles more with guitar solos and riffs on this album than on previous albums as drummer Ryan Burt provides a blistering percussion section.

The one gripe I have with the album is that there are certain songs that have copy and pasted from their previous album Let the Ocean Take Me. It could just be because I have listened to that album hundreds of times, but there are certain times where the similarities are inexcusable. Build ups to choruses are the same, some lyrics are even similar in certain songs. While this is not a huge deal, I do wish the band had done more to provide an even more unique feel for the album.

Overall, The Amity Affliction has put out another solid release even with the rehashed parts of one or two songs, and I will be jamming this album for a long time.