Album review: Asking Alexandria - Asking Alexandria

There are many questions music fans and critics want to be Asking them - about internal squabbles, artistic choices, style etc.

They are often written off as a slick, well-painted machine with little underneath the exterior to justify the hype. And their fans will argue with their critics 'til the cows come home about whether it is harsh or not.

We have even read a lot of flak so far for this, their fifth and self-titled record, around the internet. Not even the return of popular frontman Danny Worsnop, many say, can lift this record above trash.

But we'd like to stick up for these guys and say that in this instance the harsh feedback is unjustified. It's wrong, even.

Sure, it's not going to win any prog fans over, nor is it going to be remembered in 40 years as the album that brought a dawn of a new era. But here the polished and often-maligned smoothness of their metalcore actually sounds pretty good.

The stomping choruses of Into The Fire hold enough aggression to verge on menacing, that stomping percussion penetrating deep enough to leave an impression.

There is also something endearing in the innocence of Vultures - Worsnop's vocals showing a range and talent hidden behind his usual snarl.

There is also something catchy in the percussion-led ferocity of I Am One. The fast pace and energy sink a hook in and keep you interested.

Sure, not everything will please everyone. We weren't overly keen on the soft nature of Under Denver - we are verging on the kind of forced euphoric choruses that make Thirty Seconds To Mars such a bore here.

While the adventurous Empire, featuring rapper Bingx, falls a little flat as the two vocal styles sit too far apart to really get any cohesion like the great rap metal acts managed to find.

So we, like this band, prepare to take some flak for our outlook on this record. But if you don't mind metal a little lighter you might find some surprising joy in this.

Rating: 7/10

Asking Alexandria will be at Birmingham's O2 Academy on January 23, 2018.