The lads have done it again.
England’s own Asking Alexandria have forged their own path in metalcore and hard rock for over 15 years. Across their last seven albums, they have never been afraid to play what their hearts desired and that is true as ever for their most recent release, Where Do We Go From Here?
This album has an aesthetic variety that should appeal to all fans of Asking Alexandria’s previous work. In an interview with Local Band Smokeout on YouTube, Sam Bettley (bass) explains how the band saw value in the metal energy of their early releases as well as the hard rock focus of their later ones and decided to make a record that covered both bases. Some songs cover only one at a time, such as “Feel” with its consistent hard rock or the insane hardcore frenzy of “Kill it With Fire.” Many other songs weave seamlessly between the two camps and more, such as the opener “Bad Blood” and “Nothing Left.”
More importantly than its diversity though, Where Do We Go From Here? is just high quality, whatever genre it’s going for. Across each of the 11 tracks, Asking Alexandria manage to make an album that feels catchy and reliable, but also exciting. Lets return to “Bad Blood” and “Nothing Left” for example. Each song includes all the tropes and tricks that make modern metalcore and hard rock as satisfying as they are, but when the blast beats come in at the end of the chorus in “Bad Blood,” or when the guitar solo appears in the middle of “Nothing Left,” they enter original and fresh-sounding territory. Equally fresh are the performances on this album, which are crisp, expressive and wonderfully produced. This album, overall, is written well and sounds even better. That’s just what good music is.
It’s important to be clear that this isn’t a perfect record however. Much of the originality and inspiration in the songwriting seems concentrated at the two ends of the record, with a listen through feeling like a gradual decrease in interestingness across the middle, with a rally at the end. That said, even the most predictable songs here are still very high quality modern rock/metal. The only time when Asking Alexandria truly miss on this record is in the eighth track, “Let the Dead Take Me,” where the passion of the other songs just doesn’t come through in the writing, performances or production like it does throughout the rest of the album.
All things considered, Where Do We Go From Here? is a sweet album that deserves the respect of modern rock and metalcore fans everywhere. While there may be room to improve, Asking Alexandria are still just as potent musicians and songwriters as ever and it’s clear that their heart is still very much in what they’re doing. They have the soul to make beautiful ballads, the fire to make true bangers and the ambition to do it in a way that sets them apart from everybody else.
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