Pittsburgh – The Amity Affliction (Song Review)

“Pittsburgh” is the first single off the upcoming album “Let the Ocean Take Me” from Aussie rockers The Amity Affliction. The album is scheduled for release June 6th in Australia, June 9th in the UK, and June 19th in the USA. Check out their website for pre-order bundles! The song has a very deep and dark meaning. Lead vocalist Joel Birch suffered a seizure which could have killed him due to acute alcohol withdrawal. “Pittsburgh” depicts the helplessness he felt once he was revived from said seizure and afterwards. “…it’s about feeling trapped in anxiety and depression and trying to find an escape, but it’s [alcohol] the wrong escape…this one’s for me, because I need to exorcise these demons.” TAA added an extra dimension with the inclusion of a children’s choir; “We’ve always wanted to include something like that, and as we were writing this song, the section just had an eerie vibe to it, and we felt the choir would take it to another level.” And it did, because let’s face facts, kids are creepy. “Pittsburgh” has so much meaning behind it, and that’s what makes it so much more amazing. When you sit down, and look and see what the song is about, the lyrics make so much sense. The entirety of the chorus is what (I imagine) a seizure/alcohol withdrawal/near death experience to feel like; like you’re “drowning from within”, which, personally I’ve only gone through one near death experience and I can say it does feel like that, and it’s pretty damn terrifying.

Rating 4/5: I love me some Aussies. Now that that’s out of the way…this song is great! At first I was a little thrown off and confused by the title for a few reasons, 1. they’re Australian and 2. as a Baltimore fan, we aren’t too fond of Pittsburgh (and that’s putting it nicely). But once I sat down and dug deeper I realized how amazing of a song it was, and how much meaning it held. Very rarely has a song gave me goose bumps, but this one did. It’s musically and all around wonderful, even if it is a bit repetitive. Great song, deep meaning, all around awesome.