Review Summary: Dull, monotonous breakdown release. Duga dug dug dug.
A couple of friends recommended that I listen to the new Asking
Alexandria album. They cited that it was "br00tal" and that the
synth was really good. So my friend let me borrow their new CD
"Reckless and Relentless". After listening to this CD, I have come to
the conclusion that Asking Alexandria has four main musical modes
in this release: breakdowns, chug riffs (upbeat breakdowns), power
chorded clean singing sections and pseudo dub step/electronica sections.
Asking Alexandria does none of these well.
There are two problems with Asking Alexandria's breakdowns. First,
their breakdowns do not stick out at all. There are thousands of
breakdowns in the sea of music. Asking Alexandria does nothing to
distinguish itself. Just duga---dug-dug-dug---duga-duga---dug-dug-dug
and occasionally some gimmicky pseudo dub step synth. Second, if chugs
occupy 75%+ of the guitarwork in a CD, breakdowns lose all their power.
There was a time when breakdowns were used as a climax for
songs; something that is built up to. Asking Alexandria uses breakdowns
for nothing more than an opportunity for the band to do power squats
and their fans to hardcore prance as much as possible during their live
shows. In addition to the buildup, breakdowns had contrast. Namely, not
every other part of the song sounded like a ****ing breakdown. But I guess
I understand Asking Alexandria has to appeal to the FANS, heaven forbid
they have to wait through actual music before flailing their arms and
legs around to impress scene chicks.
It sounds like there is a hanging note throughout large sections of the song.
The duga dugs carry out the same open power chord and it becomes very
tiresome and monotonous. It was hard to distinguish any clear melody even when there's
singing, as if there were produced vocals in the background holding the
same note out for entire sections. That is why "Someone, somewhere" will
never make it to the radio. I'm convinced that despite the fact there is
no screaming, the singing has no melody. Just monotonous high pitched singing.
Then there's the electronica portion of the Asking Alexandria formula. While
the rest of Asking Alexandria's musical elements are monotonous and predictable,
the electronica is schizophrenic. The atmosphere that it brings should carry
largely through the album to set an overall tone. While the dub step portions
of their songs make some sense as they are not a band to be taken seriously at all,
the dark portions of their tracks (see "Welcome" or "Morte et Dabo") seem way
out of place. Since the guitarwork underneath both of these synth types could
easily be interchanged, the synth seems gimmicky and tacked on.
Oh yeah, there's also a guitar solo in "Someone, somewhere". Nothing special.
If you are interested in the genre and maybe heard a song you like from this
band, I recommend you instead get Bring Me The Horizon. I don't like their
new CD, but I'll admit they do everything Asking Alexandria does (besides
sing) but much better. If you want to step outside of the box a little, I'd
recommend The Algorithm.
Standout tracks: None.
Listenable tracks: "Welcome"
