As we mentioned last week, during the lead-up to the release of THE AMITY AFFLICTION‘s upcoming album ‘Chasing Ghosts‘ on the 1st of October, the band will be revealing a 30-second snippet of each track from the album every day for the next 10 days. Frontman Joel Birch has also written a brief explanation for each track and since reporting this more tracks have been revealed – check them out below:

‘Chasing Ghosts’ explained:

“I wrote Chasing Ghosts as a narrative based wholly around someone that has committed suicide and has passed onto the other side. It’s a story that I hope people will see for what it is; an example in song of why you should turn to someone close and talk instead of taking that last fatal step towards death prematurely. I just want to reiterate to people that once you’re gone, that’s it. There’s no ghosts. There’s no heaven, no hell, just finality and the wreckage left behind in the wake of their decision.”

‘RIP BON’ explained:

Listen to ‘RIP Bon’ in full below:

“This song I wrote to try and give voice to all the people left behind when a close friend takes their life. The thing that people need to realise when they’re contemplating suicide is that there are many, many devastating repercussions to their actions, it’s not just an ‘easy way out’ as some people may see it. I also think that the people left behind need a voice just like the people who have passed on. In this song the words are written from a friend, to a friend that has passed on, expressing their deep sense of guilt at not being able to prevent it, all the way through to their anger that their friend didn’t have the strength to actually lean on them in their time of need. I really feel that’s something that is happening all too often when it comes to depression, and although it’s extremely hard, people need to open up to their friends as much as possible to avoid taking that final, terrible step towards death.”

‘Life Underground’ explained:

“This song is written from the perspective of someone who has killed themselves; it’s spoken from the grave, putting words to the regret they feel for taking their life. I guess I was really trying to put across the fact that there’s no glorification that comes from suicide. It’s a short trip from being alive to being dead, and once you’re gone that’s it. That’s the theme that runs through this whole album in a great deal of the songs, and this one is no different. The lines ‘Is this really what I wished for when I felt my feet drag heavy on the earth? Is this really the answer I sought when I was searching for self worth?’ are directly linked to that sentiment. There’s a moving from the beginning of the song to the end (with my particular parts) that the protagonist almost changes from regret to anger, from wishing he/she hadn’t done it, to just wishing their memory would be erased because of the shame of it all.”

Open Letter explained:

“This really is an open letter of sorts from me to everyone that listens to Amity. I’ve been through some tough times in the past and I’ve found that through our music I’ve been able to feel a real catharsis, and hopefully other people can relate to our music in the same way and feel that same sense of cleansing that I have felt. I wrote the line ‘I’m not searching the sky for a reason to live ’cause I found beauty right here and the passion to give…’ to directly relay this to the listeners; as far as our music is concerned I am dedicated to giving as much of myself to them as I can to try and help them through whatever it is they’re going through. I’ve really found enough beauty in everyday life to get me through the toughest of times, and if other people can start to open up to it through our music then that’s a truly amazing thing.”