Asking Alexandria

Artist, Songwriter

•

Popularity

Spanning two continents, three names, and nearly a dozen members, stalwart British metalcore enthusiasts [wimpLink artistId="3635103"]Asking Alexandria[/wimpLink] are a band whose career seems to be more about change than anything else. Emerging in the late 2000s and led by founder and guitarist [wimpLink artistId="4441856"]Ben Bruce[/wimpLink], they caught fire in 2013 with the release of their chart-scorching third LP [wimpLink albumId="255008280"]From Death to Destiny[/wimpLink]. Subsequent outings like [wimpLink albumId="255576932"]The Black[/wimpLink] (2016), [wimpLink albumId="250761493"]Like a House on Fire[/wimpLink] (2020), and [wimpLink albumId="192875459"]See What's on the Inside[/wimpLink] (2021) saw the group adding elements of nu-metal and traditional hard rock to their demonic blend of electro-screamo and uncompromising post-hardcore. The brainchild of guitarist [wimpLink artistId="4441856"]Ben Bruce[/wimpLink], the band was originally formed in Dubai in 2003 under the name Amongst Us, which soon changed to End of Reason before they eventually settled on [wimpLink artistId="3635103"]Asking Alexandria[/wimpLink] in 2006. They cemented the name change with their self-released EP Tomorrow.Hope.Goodbye. The following year, they issued their first full-length album, The Irony of Your Perfection, through Hangmans Joke. Shortly afterward, [wimpLink artistId="4441856"]Bruce[/wimpLink] left Dubai and returned to England, resulting in the dissolution of the band. In 2008, he formed a new group around the name [wimpLink artistId="3635103"]Asking Alexandria[/wimpLink]. Unlike its vaguely post-hardcore predecessor, this incarnation was a pretty standard screamo/metalcore act, with chugging guitars and alternating singing/screaming vocals. Finally settling on the lineup of [wimpLink artistId="6178922"]Danny Worsnop[/wimpLink] (vocals), [wimpLink artistId="16165357"]Camron Liddell[/wimpLink] (guitar), [wimpLink artistId="12733038"]James Cassells[/wimpLink] (drums), and [wimpLink artistId="19368305"]Sam Bettley[/wimpLink] (bass), the band set to work on a touring blitz of the United States with groups like [wimpLink artistId="32436"]Alesana[/wimpLink], [wimpLink artistId="3526279"]the Bled[/wimpLink], and [wimpLink artistId="3787598"]Evergreen Terrace[/wimpLink]. In 2009, [wimpLink artistId="3635103"]Asking Alexandria[/wimpLink] signed with Sumerian Records and released their first album with the new lineup, [wimpLink albumId="255007724"]Stand Up and Scream[/wimpLink], in the fall of that year. They followed their debut with the [wimpLink albumId="36452043"]Life Gone Wild[/wimpLink] EP, which included remixes of songs from [wimpLink albumId="255007724"]Stand Up and Scream[/wimpLink] and a few [wimpLink artistId="14824"]Skid Row[/wimpLink] covers. [wimpLink artistId="3635103"]Asking Alexandria[/wimpLink] would find mainstream success in 2011 with the release of the remix album [wimpLink albumId="255007753"]Stepped Up and Scratched[/wimpLink], which featured EDM remixes of songs from their debut as well as their sophomore album, [wimpLink albumId="255008199"]Reckless & Relentless[/wimpLink], which was released a few months later. [wimpLink albumId="255008199"]Reckless[/wimpLink] peaked at number nine on the Billboard charts and the band continued with relentless touring into the next year. At the end of 2012, [wimpLink artistId="6178922"]Worsnop[/wimpLink] tore a vocal cord, an injury that would prove consequential years later. The group returned in the summer of 2013 with a more mature hard rock sound, smoothing off some of the metalcore and electronicore influences, resulting in their more focused third album, [wimpLink albumId="255008280"]From Death to Destiny[/wimpLink]. At the end of the tour cycle, in January 2015, [wimpLink artistId="6178922"]Worsnop[/wimpLink] announced that he was parting ways with the band to focus on a more traditional rock & roll sound with his group [wimpLink artistId="5754645"]We Are Harlot[/wimpLink]. [wimpLink artistId="3635103"]Asking Alexandria[/wimpLink] recruited a new singer, Ukrainian metalcore vocalist Denis Stoff ([wimpLink artistId="3944643"]Make Me Famous[/wimpLink]), and immediately released the new lineup's first single, "I Won't Give In." That song would appear on their album [wimpLink albumId="255576932"]The Black[/wimpLink], which was released a year later in March 2016. That October, Stoff split with the band. [wimpLink artistId="6178922"]Worsnop[/wimpLink] -- in the midst of his own solo endeavors -- rejoined [wimpLink artistId="3635103"]Asking Alexandria[/wimpLink] just in time for the group's ten-year anniversary. The reunited band returned to the studio to record their fifth album, which featured the lead single "Into the Fire." The eponymous [wimpLink albumId="255012652"]Asking Alexandria[/wimpLink], which adopted a more stadium-rock-friendly style of metalcore, arrived in late 2017 and debuted in the Top 30 of the Billboard 200. After a quick promotional cycle, the reunited and newly sober band returned to the studio for album number six. The first offering from that effort, "The Violence," arrived in July 2019; the LP itself, [wimpLink albumId="250761493"]Like a House on Fire[/wimpLink], followed in 2020. Early 2021 saw the arrival of the single "Alone Again" ahead of the release of the group's new studio effort, [wimpLink albumId="192875459"]See What's on the Inside[/wimpLink], which arrived later that October. ~ Gregory Heaney & Neil Z. Yeung

Links