Review Summary: Evolution and Regression.
Asking Alexandria the band everyone knows, either you love them, and their terribly written lyrics, or you hate them and dismiss them as another chug fest band. Stand Up and Scream brought them commercial success, and a huge base of disdain and critics, Reckless & Relentless brought older listeners in and at the same time gained even more critique, so the hype for the third effort "From Death to Destiny" was very low. Promising a new sound of "Old Slipknot style heavy sections" with "Motley Crue style choruses and bridges" Asking had a tough act to perform, and with Danny Worsnop's sudden tear of the vocal chords, this record had a lot going against it. What happened? Well, to an extent they fulfilled their promise. To an extent.
Album opener, "Don't Pray For Me" starts with the usual Asking routine, an attempt at making an ominous feel leading into instead of a breakdown, a simplistic riff. After a few backtracks during a show with Danny and Ben arguing, the instruments kick into gear, and unlike previous work, it kicked into a slow riff. While the guitarists and the bassist failed to do anything to give a Slipknot kind of feel like they promised, the drums seemed to follow the idea pretty well. The song soon follows the old Asking routine once again, however the vocals seem to fit the band much better. Worsnop's vocals have more of a classic metal sound to them, instead of the usual "scene" screams/growls and clean vocals. The song leads into the second single released from this album "Killing You" which is Asking Alexandria's break-up song. The lyrics sound a tad cleaned up from the last album, however they still fail to meet any type of groundbreaking expectations. The band seems to be more in sync in this track then the previous one, with each member being properly balanced out by another, and creating for the first time in Asking Alexandria's career, a hard hitting track.
One thing this album seems to do, is change in each song. Going from a chug fest in "Don't Pray For Me" a darker song "Killing You" to a mix of the first two "The Death of Me" to a happier song "Run Free". Lead single "The Death of Me" stands out as being the only song to perfectly hit what Asking Alexandria was going for, being well structured, with Danny's newer vocals at their strongest, stronger more technical guitars, and hard hitting drums. The album falls apart slightly each and every track after "The Death of Me" losing either the growled vocals, or losing the strong guitars, and with the amount of time the band put into writing/recording this album, something better could have easily come out.
One positive about this album, is drummer James Cassells. He never seems to slouch when it comes to drum tracks, as evident in Reckless where the only redeeming quality was actually the drum work. While much more repetitive then before, it works for the band as it gives a strong classic metal/80s feel to each song, and adding power to the weaker sections. One song where the drum work is at it's finest is the rock ballad "Moving On" which is arguably the best track on the album. James perfectly fits the 80s feel in the song, with the drums sounding like some slower tracks from Motley Crue, which the band listed as one of their biggest inspirations. Lead guitarist and primary song writer Ben Bruce seems to have improved upon his technique as well, as the choruses have more of a flow, and the riffs/breakdowns have more structure to them. Moving On is also where the guitar is at it's best, following Cassells with great results, creating not only an outstanding ballad, but a great track that will surely remain in Asking Alexandria's career in the years to come.
Lyrically the album is torn apart in each song. Both Ben Bruce and Danny Worsnop promised "happier uplifting lyrics" then the usual "Go drink till you drop", but the lyrics seemed much more depressing then before save for Run Free. Some songs give the impression Asking Alexandria hates everyone, such as Poison, or that they will never change such as in Don't Pray For Me. Moving On, yet again stands as the strongest track lyrically, which is Danny singing about his thoughts while he was in rehab and trying to better himself which serves as the "you can be better than what you think" track.
In sum, Asking Alexandria in some aspects have evolved, such as the band coming together in tracks much more steadily then before, however they also have quite a few boring parts in the album. The guest vocal spot in "Until The End" was completely useless, and weakened the track substantially. Save for a few stand-out tracks this album has fallen as Asking Alexandria's best work however that really isn't saying much.
Recommended Tracks:
-Creature
-Moving On
-The Death of Me
Pros:
-"Moving On"
-Lyrically strong at some points
-Strong instruments in a few tracks
Cons:
-Nothing groundbreaking
-Some of the album sounds rushed
