Asking Alexandria - From Death To Destiny (02/09/2013)
In 2011 an English band by the name of Asking Alexandria suddenly burst onto the music scene with their second album Reckless and Relentless. Their blend of metalcore/electronicore had people either loving or hating them but that certainly didn't slow them down as they toured the world and won a bunch of awards.
At the end of 2012 vocalist Danny Worsnop suffered a vocal chord injury but that hasn't stopped the band from releasing their latest album From Death To Destiny, albeit with a very different sound.
The opening track titled Don't Pray For Me starts with an almost orchestral sound before the band start and Worsnop's screaming vocals come in over the top. It's a gripping opening track with sorrowful lyrics “I don't want you to cry, I don't even want you to care. Don't you dare pray for me, no. These things I bury inside to keep away from the light. Don't you dare pray for me.”
The Death Of You, which was the second single from the album, is an attention grabbing song for it's screaming and very heavy verses and mellow choruses. The sound of this track alone shows just how far this band have come in their five years as a band.
Break Down The Walls almost sounds like it's straight out of the 80's. Heavy music with a catchy beat, hard rocking vocals and a catchy as hell chorus. This song is completely different to anything they've ever done before but you can tell this is the type of song they've been dying to make for a long time.
White Line Fever is one of the definite stand outs on the album. With lyrics such as “If there's a black hole headed for hell then baby count me in” and “I sold my soul so long ago, a bullet in the chamber with nowhere to go” it's not hard to see that Worsnop has written it about his battle with alcohol and drug addictions.
The 80's sound strongly seeps through again with Moving On having the strong sound of a ballad and like White Line Fever this is clearly another song about Danny's life but this time how he's moving on from the past and into the future. “I've never felt so hopeless than I do tonight. No I don't wanna do this anymore, I'm moving on.”
Reading that former Killswitch Engage vocalist Howard Jones guests on the second last track Until The End you get understandably sceptical but fear not! The two vocalists accompany each other brilliantly and Jones fits in seamlessly with the rest of the band to make this track truly stand out.
The album comes to an end with the “rock mix” of The Death of Me which was also released as a single. Why they chose to do a rock mix of this particular song I'm not aware but nonetheless it is definitely still a great track and shows that the band work just as well as a hard rock band as they do as a metalcore band.
From Death To Destiny is by far one of the best albums released this year although the band's new direction is sure to upset some of the die-hard fans of their previous albums there are sure to be plenty of new Asking Alexandria fans after hearing this album. It's no secret that the band are hugely influenced by 80's hard rock and metal bands such as Metallica and Aerosmith and with this album these influences show through quite clearly and take the band in a solid new direction.
Matt Barton
At the end of 2012 vocalist Danny Worsnop suffered a vocal chord injury but that hasn't stopped the band from releasing their latest album From Death To Destiny, albeit with a very different sound.
The opening track titled Don't Pray For Me starts with an almost orchestral sound before the band start and Worsnop's screaming vocals come in over the top. It's a gripping opening track with sorrowful lyrics “I don't want you to cry, I don't even want you to care. Don't you dare pray for me, no. These things I bury inside to keep away from the light. Don't you dare pray for me.”
The Death Of You, which was the second single from the album, is an attention grabbing song for it's screaming and very heavy verses and mellow choruses. The sound of this track alone shows just how far this band have come in their five years as a band.
Break Down The Walls almost sounds like it's straight out of the 80's. Heavy music with a catchy beat, hard rocking vocals and a catchy as hell chorus. This song is completely different to anything they've ever done before but you can tell this is the type of song they've been dying to make for a long time.
White Line Fever is one of the definite stand outs on the album. With lyrics such as “If there's a black hole headed for hell then baby count me in” and “I sold my soul so long ago, a bullet in the chamber with nowhere to go” it's not hard to see that Worsnop has written it about his battle with alcohol and drug addictions.
The 80's sound strongly seeps through again with Moving On having the strong sound of a ballad and like White Line Fever this is clearly another song about Danny's life but this time how he's moving on from the past and into the future. “I've never felt so hopeless than I do tonight. No I don't wanna do this anymore, I'm moving on.”
Reading that former Killswitch Engage vocalist Howard Jones guests on the second last track Until The End you get understandably sceptical but fear not! The two vocalists accompany each other brilliantly and Jones fits in seamlessly with the rest of the band to make this track truly stand out.
The album comes to an end with the “rock mix” of The Death of Me which was also released as a single. Why they chose to do a rock mix of this particular song I'm not aware but nonetheless it is definitely still a great track and shows that the band work just as well as a hard rock band as they do as a metalcore band.
From Death To Destiny is by far one of the best albums released this year although the band's new direction is sure to upset some of the die-hard fans of their previous albums there are sure to be plenty of new Asking Alexandria fans after hearing this album. It's no secret that the band are hugely influenced by 80's hard rock and metal bands such as Metallica and Aerosmith and with this album these influences show through quite clearly and take the band in a solid new direction.
Matt Barton