''Severed Ties'' is the debut studio album by Australian

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...

band

the Amity Affliction The Amity Affliction is an Australian metalcore band from Gympie, Queensland, formed in 2003. The band's current line-up consists of Ahren Stringer (bass, clean vocals), Joel Birch (lead vocals), Dan Brown (guitar) and Joe Longobardi (drums). T ...

. It was released on 4 October 2008 through Boomtown Records, which debuted at No. 26 on the ARIA Albums Chart, and No. 6 on the related Australian Artists Albums Chart. The album was the last release to feature guitarist Chris Burt and the first to feature drummer Ryan Burt.

Background

"Poison Pen Letters" was re-recorded for ''Severed Ties'', it originally appeared on the demo compilation, ''State of Affairs'' – a collection of tracks by hardcore bands from the five mainland states of Australia. "

Love Is a Battlefield "Love Is a Battlefield" is a song by American singer Pat Benatar, recorded and released on September 12, 1983, as a single from Benatar's live album '' Live from Earth'' (1983), though the song itself was a studio recording. It was written by Ho ...

" is a cover of a track by Pat Benatar. Three tracks contained samples from feature films, however due to copyright restrictions the label was forced to remove them. The first few thousand copies printed of the album retained the samples: "I Heart Roberts'" contains one from the film, ''

Hot Rod Hot rods are typically American cars that might be old, classic, or modern and that have been rebuilt or modified with large engines optimised for speed and acceleration. One definition is: "a car that's been stripped down, souped up and made ...

'', "The Blair Snitch Project" had a sample from '' True Romance'' in its intro, and "Stairway to Hell" contains sound samples from ''Hot Rod'' and '' Happy Gilmore''. The group's insider joke is in the

initialism An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

, "B.D.K.I.A.F.", which stands for "Big Dick Know It All Fuck"; while "Do You Party?" is a reference to a joke in ''Hot Rod''.

Track listing

Personnel

;The Amity Affliction *Joel Birch –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

*Ahren Stringer –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, clean vocals *Troy Brady – lead guitar *Chris Burt –

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

*Trad Nathan –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

synths A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

, programming, samples *Ryan Burt –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;Additional musicians *Helmet Roberts (The Daylight Curse) – guest vocals on ''"I Heart Roberts'"'' *Lochlan Watt (Ironhide) – guest vocals on ''"Snitches Get Stitches"'' *Matthew Wright ( The Getaway Plan) – guest vocals on ''"So You Melted..."'' and ''"Jesse Intense"'' *Michael Crafter ( Confession) – guest vocals on ''"Jesse Intense"'' *JJ Peters ( Deez Nuts) – guest vocals on ''"Stairway to Hell"'' ;Production *Darren Thompson – Producer

References

{{Authority control 2008 debut albums The Amity Affliction albums