Album review: Asking Alexandria – See What’s On The Inside
Danny Worsnop and co. continue their pivot to straight-up rock on seventh LP, See What’s On The Inside…
Ever since frontman Danny Worsnop’s reconciliation with Asking Alexandria in 2016, the band have continually bridged their vocalist’s love of classic rock and country – something evidenced by his solo output and other band We Are Harlot – with their metalcore roots. A formula that’s undoubtedly paid off for the quintet given the huge streaming numbers that accompanied their hard-rock-leaning previous LP, Like A House On Fire, it makes sense that the band have continued down that path for this seventh record.
While See What's On The Inside doesn’t really break any new ground, what it does do is demonstrate Asking Alexandria’s knack for radio-friendly hard-rock, as well as Danny’s tremendous vocal abilities. An early high point comes via opening track and recent single Alone Again, a bombastic rocker that’s far more dramatic than the majority of their catalogue, and a song that has more in common with Ghost than it does with metalcore. There’s plenty more chunky, latter-day Avenged Sevenfold-ish riffs on show throughout See What’s On The Inside, as Faded Out, If I Could Start Over and the rather catchy Never Gonna Learn all scratch that fist-pumping, Download-ready itch.
Ultimately, though, it’s when Asking Alexandria dial up the drama like they do on Alone Again, the title-track, and cataclysmic closing number The Grey that See What’s On The Inside really takes flight. It’s proof that Danny and co. have it in them to be far more than a polished radio-rock outfit, and if they harness that spectacle and theatre even more going forward, they could take on an intriguing, exciting form indeed.
Verdict: 3/5
For fans of: Black Veil Brides, Seether, Halestorm
See What's On The Inside is released on October 1 via Better Noise.