ALBUM REVIEW: Like A House On Fire – Asking Alexandria

ASKING ALEXANDRIA are back with their sixth-studio album Like A House On Fire, delving into more hard rock/heavy rock styles that have mere inklings of their metal past, this album is set to be their most devise album to date that will completely reestablish the band’s image and sound for a whole new decade’s worth of music. It’s catchy, outrageous, honest, and possibly one of their most sobering albums to date.

Kicking off with the climactic title track Like A House On Fire, the ominous opening jolts into a ferocious chorus that sets the album at an unexpected high very early on. The track bodies itself as a ‘typical’ rock song for 2020, something that’s got cutting edge riffs but could easily be heard on radio or TV. It’s almost strange to think a decade ago this band were climbing from the underground metal scene and giving their albums out for free on MySpace, now they’re drawing a full circle as they bring out some arguably radio-friendly hits – and being radio-friendly isn’t always a bad thing when the song is inherently catchy or has a good structure through and through.

Versatility is rife across this album and the band’s endeavours into creativity almost never miss a beat, but when they do it’s painfully obvious. This is evident in the range between tracks like the sassy, charismatic Lorazepam, to the soulful emotional ballad of I Don’t Need You that features angelic vocals from up and coming singer GRACE GRUNDY, or even the influences of electronic styles in Give You Up. It’s funny, a brief overlook of their career might have fans worried that Give You Up is too far gone from anything they’ve done before and it doesn’t suit ASKING ALEXANDRIA, but here’s a refreshing reminder that they brought out a whole electronic dance album, Stepped Up and Scratched, in 2011.

Creativity finds itself even in the finite details of this album. One can appreciate the little notes of soundbites or samplings across the album, from the ticking clock at the start of They Don’t Want What We Want (And They Don’t Care), the “This is the end, that’s nonsense!” in One Turns to None, or even in the more subtle instances like nearing the end of Down To Hell if you listen closely you can hear “The eye of Satan.” These small hints create an interesting flair to songs and show effort being made in the smallest pockets of a song.

However, when tracks do miss a beat it’s hard to ignore. Most of the album balances out their inventive approaches to music with good layering and actual substance to the songs, but some fall flat in delivering that extra ‘oomph’ and just blur into the generic rock. Antisocialist, All Due Respect, and It’s Not Me It’s You are the biggest culprits, All Due Respect strips back on instrumentals in verses that aren’t made up by its vocal counterpart either, so the whole song just washes over and feels like they had one foot out the door. It’s Not Me It’s You’s vocal pace doesn’t match up to the pace of the song, the transition into the chorus isn’t smooth at all. Possibly the worst offender, Antisocialist, is the least favourite amongst the singles that relies on basic harmonies, guitar riffs, and mumbled vocals that sound all too familiar to something from FALL OUT BOY‘s least popular album, Mania. The pitfall of going from something layered and complex like metalcore to hard rock/heavy rock is when you finally get the chance to strip everything back you can take too much away. That being said, aside from these tracks, vocals are a trailblazing aspect of this album, and Danny Worsnop’s range from borderline screams to heartfelt vocals is insane.

It would be oblivious not to address the elephant in the room; they’ve changed. This album, similar to their last self-titled release will, unfortunately, be cast into the shadows of its previous work regardless of whether the work is actually good. Fans need to stray away from their gate-keeping attitude and listen to Like A House On Fire as if it isn’t the same skinny jeans, flippy black hair, Hot Topic poster boys from 2010… because it’s not. 2020 has seen ASKING ALEXANDRIA into a whole new era of maturity and growth. Arguably their transition here hasn’t been steady and hopefully, their next body of work will really hone into a newly established sound that doesn’t lack in some areas but for the most part, this is refreshing and well-needed change.

Rating: 8/10

Like A House On Fire is set for release May 15th via Sumerian Records. 

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