Review Summary: just another day in generic metalcore (plus synths)
Asking Alexandria, a band that you will immediately hate on because of their brand of generic metalcore mainly composed off of used riffs, chug-chug-chugs and breakdown infested songs, or, think they're an okay band that manages to write some catchy metalcore.
This album is a guilty pleasure of mine, I could easily rate it a 3.5 but looking objectivly the only thing that keeps these guys a step ahead from their competition is really just the vocal delivery (the screams anyway), drumming and synths.
The vocals in the album are above average maybe even good inside the scene roster.The screaming is perfect, the low growls, shouts to piercing highs Danny Worsnop does not fail to deliver.
Even when growling some of the most god-awful lyrics in the history of music (e.g: not the american average) Danny manages to make it work, somewhat.
In the lyrical area the band is poor, most of the songs feel like they were written to appeal the teenage fanbase (and they probably were), and mostly cover partying, losing your loved one and then wanting to stab them in the face, you know the typical.
The screams are varied enough to keep you interested until the last second unlike some of the other scene bands that have the vocalist sing the same monotomous scream a hundred times (e.g: The Devil Wears Prada in Plagues)
The singing however is basically just your run of the mill high-pitched vocals though the British accent keeps it a bit interesting, but at the end of the day it's the same high pitch chorus that you're used to hearing from most bands in this genre.
If you're looking for amazing riffs and technical solos look somewhere else, this band sticks to the chug chug chug formula, generic riffs and breakdowns.Suprisingly enough some riffs do manage to get stuck in your head, "The Final Episode" is a perfect example of this, the riff as simple, generic and overly-repetitive it might be does get stuck in your head after a while.
Breakdowns are the stepping stone of most metalcore, the band does not fail in the department, the breakdowns are heavy and well executed but, too many breakdowns eventually drag down the overall quality of the album.
The drumming, as stated before, is oh so nice, James Cassels is a very good drummer for the genre he is in, and I think his talent is somewhat drowned in this bands effort on writing mediocre metalcore.
The album features synths, alot, and if you think they ruin the songs progression (which they do for some songs) stay away from this album.
In reality the synths are what keep the album more diverse, without them you would end up listening to this album thinking you listened to just one song.
In the end Asking Alexandria is just another band that writes straightforward, generic and catchy metalcore.
I would like to see more mature songwriting, guitar playing and less whiny clean vocals from this band, but I think they will ride on the hype of this album for a long time.
Pros
-Generic yet catchy breakdowns
-Good range of screams
-synths are well placed most of the times
Cons
-Very lacking in the songwriting area
-chug chug chug chug chug
-bland clean vocals
