Label: Sumerian
Released: 26th June 2020
Rating: ★★★
Judging by the tracklisting alone, you’d be forgiven for mistaking ‘Like A House On Fire’ to be a highly-strung body of work. Instead, it’s a manifesto for a band that have spent the best part of over a decade working through their fair share of struggles and coming out the other side scathed, but stronger than ever.
By building on the foundations that they’ve already laid out for themselves in the form of gritty industrial rock fused with an electronic edge, Asking Alexandria are burning down all of the preconceived ideas that surround them as a band, and rising out of the embers with more self-confidence and a clear understanding of what they want to achieve in the next decade.
From the gargantuan bridge in ‘Down to Hell’ to the swagger that pours out of the guitar riff in ‘Take Some Time’, Asking Alexandria are pulling out their anthemic stadium-grade of shredding, which culminates in heavy hitters ‘One Turns To None’ and ‘The Violence’. By keeping the live show in mind during the writing process, it’s blindingly clear that the band have adopted an all-or-nothing attitude and are amplifying every aspect of themselves as musicians.
