Photo: Tom Brown, supplied.

Gympie-born metalcore heavyweights The Amity Affliction have released their ninth studio album, House Of Cards, marking a new chapter for one of Queensland’s most enduring heavy music exports.

The Amity Affliction have released their highly anticipated ninth studio album, House Of Cards.

The record arrives in 2026 as the Gympie-formed band continues to push through another major chapter, with new member and clean vocalist Jonny Reeves joining longtime members Joel Birch, Dan Brown and Joe Longobardi.

Across eight previous studio albums, The Amity Affliction have become one of Australia’s most recognisable heavy acts, building a catalogue shaped by grief, survival, melodic catharsis and the kind of emotional force that has made them a touchstone for generations of heavy music fans.

House Of Cards continues that thread, but the band says this album also moves into new territory. The record brings some of their most personal lyricism to date, matched with some of the heaviest and most cohesive music in their catalogue.

A deeply personal album

The album features previously released singles including “House Of Cards”, “Bleed” and “Heaven Sent”, with the new material built around themes of grief, addiction, rage, loss and release.

For Joel Birch, the record is closely tied to his mother, his childhood and the experiences that shaped him.

Birch said songs including “Break These Chains”, “Speaking In Tongues”, “Afterlife”, “Reap What You Sow” and “Eternal War” each move through different parts of that emotional terrain.

“If it isn’t about my mother specifically, it is about things that I have experienced that are directly tied to my experience growing up and where that has landed me now.”

Joel Birch

He said “Break These Chains” is tied to the confusion he felt after his mother’s death, while “Speaking In Tongues” deals with his negative experiences with church and religion. “Afterlife” reflects on his lack of belief in an afterlife, while “Eternal War” closes the record by pulling those feelings into one final statement.

‘Kickboxer’ leads the charge

The album’s focus track, “Kickboxer”, shows the band leaning into that heavier ambition.

Birch said the song began after Dan Brown watched the Jean-Claude Van Damme film Kickboxer on a tour bus and texted him with the idea of writing a song around the phrase “kiss of death”.

Birch wrote the track in his bunk on tour. He said the song expresses his distaste for the way he grew up with people praying for him or laying hands on him to pray, and his refusal to wait for a divine force to save him from whatever situation he finds himself in.

A new lineup dynamic

The addition of Jonny Reeves brings a new vocal dynamic to the band, sitting in contrast with Birch’s heavy vocals across tracks including “Break These Chains”, “Swan Dive” and “Reap What You Sow”.

It gives House Of Cards a fresh point of tension: heavy and melodic, raw and controlled, familiar but clearly moving forward.

The release lands during another busy year for the band, with The Amity Affliction also touring regional Australia and preparing for international dates across North America, Europe and the UK.

Queensland heavy music with international reach

For Queensland heavy music fans, The Amity Affliction remain one of the clearest examples of a regional band building something far beyond their hometown.

From Gympie to international festival stages, the band’s career has been built on a rare mix of emotional directness, heavy music intensity and songs that turn personal damage into something thousands of fans can recognise in themselves.

House Of Cards is out now.

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Listen and follow

Follow The Amity Affliction via their official website and social channels.

Information supplied by beehive PR.