{"id":56610,"date":"2018-01-13T11:29:19","date_gmt":"2018-01-13T16:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=56610"},"modified":"2018-01-18T22:17:47","modified_gmt":"2018-01-19T03:17:47","slug":"asking-alexandria-asking-alexandria-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2018\/asking-alexandria-asking-alexandria-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Asking Alexandria | Asking Alexandria"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller<\/span>
\n\u2014 Managing Editor\u2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Asking Alexandria is one of the most glaring amalgams of music out there. Early in their career, they were called Metalcore. But listen to the song \u201cUnder Denver\u201d from their new, selt-titled and fifth studio album and \u2026 no. It’s catchy, atmospheric Modern Rock, and damn good. They’ve been called Post-Hardcore, and yet they wrote and recorded \u201cRise Up,\u201d which just isn’t, but again, it’s a killer track. They also have an unabashed love for ’80s music like Motley Crue and Skid Row, so maybe instead of qualifying their sound, how about you just enjoy it, eh?<\/p>\n

Original singer Danny Worsnop is back in the band after a brief departure, when Asking Alexandria had Denis Stoff at the mic. It’s a story, but at this point, it doesn’t really matter. Worsnop is a talented vocalist who shines on the melodic but can slay you with harshness when need be, and be brings them back home on the new release.<\/p>\n

The noisy, jumpy \u201cAlone in a Room\u201d opens the album, with some fairly strong vocal effects and two-part harmonies. It’s hard not to hear some Chester Bennington in Worsnop’s delivery, especially in his higher range, more emotive passages. \u201cAll I needed was the last thing I wanted \u2026 to be alone in a room, alone in a room …\u201d That’s some depressing shit, and sonically, the lyrics match the music.<\/p>\n

\u201cInto the Fire\u201d is Asking Alexandria saying, \u201cWe are back!\u201d in no small way. It’s the kind of song that will have 10,000 bodies moving simultaneously in an arena setting. As a Modern Rock singer, Worsnop is heads above most of what you have out there when singing clean; the ‘Core stuff, it’s as monochromatic as anything out there, meaning, he can do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopelessly Hopeful\u201d resonates; it just sounds like a hit song after one listen. \u201cWhen the Lights Come On\u201d sort of bridges the gap between their melodic and heavier side as it veers toward Avenged Sevenfold in parts. \u201cVultures\u201d is actually an acoustic song with a lot of over-production, sort of stealing some of the rawness that is just begging to be released. That being said, it’s probably the best song on the release.<\/p>\n

When you hear a song like, \u201cEve,\u201d which tries to marry their Slipknot-ish side with some Sixx:A.M. tendencies, it’s clumsy. Bullet for My Valentine does a better job of staying true to the song in this arena. Making a track everything for everyone almost makes it nothing for no one.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmpire\u201d is just flat out weird. You either likes the meshing of Hip Hop and Alternative Rock\/Metal or you don’t. This isn’t Anthrax’s brilliant \u201cI’m the Man\u201d or Weezer’s embarassing \u201cCan’t Stop Partying.\u201d It’s somewhere between \u201cinteresting\u201d and \u201cno, why?\u201d If it’s an unadulterated attempt at a hit, let \u201cVultures\u201d pull that plow.<\/p>\n

Asking Alexandria is intriguing every step of the way. They capture that youth element (meaning they are as marketable as you can get), you know they’ve got enough talent to keep doing this for a long time and as musicians can seamlessly morph with the times, but their truest melodies have a timelessness to them. There’s a lot to like \u2026 and then there’s other stuff. In the end, the sooner they figure out the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, the better they’ll become.<\/p>\n

Genre: Rock\/Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nBen Bruce \u2013 lead guitar, vocals
\nDanny Worsnop \u2013 lead vocals
\nJames Cassells \u2013 drums
\nCameron Liddell \u2013 rhythm and lead guitar
\nSam Bettley \u2013 bass guitar<\/p>\n

Tracklisting:
\n01. Alone In a Room
\n02. Into The Fire
\n03. Hopelessly Hopeful
\n04. Where Did It Go?
\n05. Rise Up
\n06. When The Lights Come On
\n07. Under Denver
\n08. Vultures
\n09. Eve
\n10. I Am One
\n11. Empire
\n12. Room 138<\/p>\n

Label: Sumerian Records<\/p>\n

Web:
\nwww.askingalexandria.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: [usr 7.4 size=20]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller \u2014 Managing Editor\u2014 Asking Alexandria is one of the most glaring amalgams of music out there. Early in their career, they were called Metalcore. But listen to the song \u201cUnder Denver\u201d from […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":56611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15129],"tags":[8507,9819,14130,14131,11005,14132,12354,8876,3944,14133],"class_list":{"0":"post-56610","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2018","8":"tag-album","9":"tag-asking-alexandria","10":"tag-ben-bruce","11":"tag-cameron-liddell","12":"tag-danny-worsnop","13":"tag-james-cassells","14":"tag-music-review","15":"tag-self-titled","16":"tag-studio","17":"tag-sumerian-records"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}