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Asking Alexandria – Like a House on Fire

Florian Buechting Media Review No Comments

Asking Alexandria - Like a House on Fire

Asking Alexandria - Like a House on Fire
2.3

Rating

 2.3/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Few above average songs
  • Some tracks feel to have a lot of potential

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Too many weak moments in songs, even if overall above average

Three years after their previous album, Asking Alexandria released another studio album, Like A House on Fire, on 15th May 2020. The British band, which has quite a wild history between York and Dubai, had some quite good metalcore songs in the past, so that I was quite curious about this one.

 

Asking Alexandria – About The Artists

Asking Alexandria is a York-based metalcore band. They initially formed as Amongst Us in 2003 and were based in Dubai, but as more and more band members left the Emirates, it was very hard to keep the band going – and also a follow up project called End of Reason did not succeed. Finally, the band renamed to Asking Alexandria and had quite some success with their debut album The Irony of Your Perfection. However, after a long tour, the band decided to split up. Founder Ben Bruce went back to England and tried to find new band members. In 2008, they started to work under the same name, Asking Alexandria. As the band had a completely new set of members, their 2009 album Stand Up And Scream was like a second debut album. It took some time to grow the band, but two albums later, their 2013 Reckless and Relentless can be seen as some sort of international breakthrough, as the album made it to the Top 30 album charts in Germany, Austria, the US and the UK. The following album, The Black (2016) had similar success. After the 2017 Asking Alexandria album, Like a House on Fire is the seventh album released under the band name.

 

Like A House on Fire – Track By Track

The 15 track album lasts 52 minutes.

1. House On Fire

As I watch it fall away from me
Like a house on fire, like a house on fire
And all I am turn to all I can be
Like a house on fire, like a house on fire

The album starts powerful with a very catchy chorus. No doubt, the title track of the album is fun!

2. They Don’t Want What We Want

Again, the chorus is just the heart of the this track. Sometimes the verses even bother me a bit, but the chorus is really catchy and let’s you bang your head. Cool!

3. Down to Hell

The verses in Down to Hell even have a of a hip hop touch – but overall, Down to Hell is the first song I really struggle with. It also feels a bit too complex to me and – though just having a duration of 3:16 minutes, has very different sections. About average.

4. Antisocialist

Where is the copy-paste function? I struggle that much with this track, one of the singles released so far. The chorus is not bad at all, but the verses are that different, the song feels like a metal DJ who has smoked some strange weed and just moves the cross-fader forth and back. The lyrics as an antibody to the chorus, bad luck.

5. I Don’t Need You

I Don’t Need You is a slower track – and it is one of my favorites of the album. The track feels like a story, as one piece – not as a fight between two parts. Nice vocals and melody as well – could even be a radio song.

6. All Due Respect

Average music at All Due Respect: the song is not bad at all, but it has a very arbitrary touch and does not add too much to the album to me. Bad luck.

7. Take Some Time

Take Some Time is slow, but has a quite concise ryhthm. Thus, it definitely a good head-banger. This is definitely good stuff by the Brits!

8. One Turns To None

One Turns To None starts with very powerful sounds and strong vocals. The song feels very repetitive, not really a blast, but a solid song.

9. It’s Not Me (It’s You)

Good that the bass is still in the song – It’s Not Me (It’s You) feels like extremely pitched to a faster speed for the first minute, before the song gets slower suddenly. Another song in which Asking Alexandria is more in the Land of Confusion than in Metalcore heaven.

10. Here’s To Starting Over

Here’s To Starting Over is just a bit too boring to me (again). Where is the catching element, which reminds me of the song just ten minutes after listening. Asking Alexandria should be doing better than operating on the average – but finally they just do not make it.

11. What’s Gonna Be

What’s Gonna Be is one of the better tracks of the album –  but it is not that far away from average level on the other hand as well. Melodic, nice… That’s it.

12. Give You Up

Is the album better towards its end? Give You Up definitely has some enjoyable parts. The phrase give you up appears some fifty times in 3:33 minutes, so that the Nobel Prize is likely out of reach here, but at least that makes this song somehow a quite reasonable listen.

13. In My Blood

Just when I felt to invest some more positive emotions, they deliver some average song with In My Blood. Definitely not the worst one of Like A House on Fire, though, fans might like it. One of these tracks which make you feel they do have a lot of potential… Which is finally wasted.

14. The Violence

The Violence comes with a nice rhythm, which as such lifts the song already to a higher level… for the first some two minutes. Then it is up to the band to destroy some potential. The interlude destroys the song completely in my view.

15. Lorazepam

After fifteen songs, I just have to say that I am not too sad that I reached the end of this track-by-track review. At least I feel that this track is comprehensible. One of the few songs which does not have a sudden and unnecessary break.

 

Like A House on Fire – Spotify

Here is the Spotify link to Like A House on Fire:

 

Like A House on Fire – My View

xxx

 

 

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