 
Back in January 2015 Asking Alexandria lead singer Danny Worsnop announced he was leaving the band to focus of his other project We Are Harlot and instantly social media was hit with mixed feelings from fans of the band with many people claiming that Asking Alexandria had no future without Danny Worsnop as he was essential to the band’s sound, in May 2015 Asking Alexandria announced Denis Stoff who was formally the guitarist and vocalist of Ukrainian metalcore bands Make Me Famous and Down And Dirty the band not long after headed out on tour where they and Denis Stoff were praised by the bands fans and the press.
It is now a good 15 months since Danny Worsnop left Asking Alexandria and they are days away from releasing their fourth studio album ‘The Black’ which happens to be the band’s first album without Danny Worsnop and also the first album with Denis Stoff, now when Danny Worsnop left the band founding member Ben Bruce was left devastated not only had he lost the lead singer from his band he also had lost his best friend but instead of letting this damage his band and get him down too much he moved on and locked himself away in his home in New Jersey and worked on ideas for the bands new studio album ‘The Black’.
Now if you are wondering why Asking Alexandria have called their latest album ‘The Black’ it is because from the time Danny Worsnop left the band and Asking Alexandria started work on their fourth album it happened to be the darkest moment of their musical careers a moment which they referenced as the black period and after listening to ‘The Black’ many times over I can confirm that going through this dark time has done Asking Alexandria good as ‘The Black’ is a fantastic album which stays true to the bands roots but also showcases how well Denis Stoff has fitted into the band and also how talented he is as his vocals are spot on throughout the whole album.
For The majority ‘The Black’ is a ferocious album jammed packed with hard hitting riffs, enough synthesisers and digital distortion to make the likes of Enter Shikari jealous whilst being vocally energetic with a perfect mixture of clean and shouty vocals whilst having a solid lyrical theme with enough profanities to shock your straight talking friends.
The album kicks off with ‘Let It Sleep’ and from the go it packs the punches as Asking Alexandria come out fighting and put everything into the song, it is an instant mosh pit anthem with a lot of digital trickery, its melodic in places yet tub-thumping throughout.
The album title track ‘The Black’ follows on nicely from the opening track and features lyrical content clearly aimed at Danny Worsnop with the likes of ‘You made my world come crashing down around me I need to cut you out” and ‘I’ve been crucified and hung out to dry yet my heart still beats and I feel so alive this time I’ll fight for myself as you try to fuck me over, I bet you never cared I knew you never cared’ being screamed and sung out.
‘I Won’t Give In’ see’s things tone down slightly as the band go down a route ever so similar to that of Linkin Park full of digital trickery dominating their sound and it is here where Denis Stoff and ben Bruce sound spot on with their duel vocals.
There are many moments on the album which feature snippets of Ben Bruce talking such as before ‘Sometimes It Ends’ kicks in he talks about how Danny stabbed him in the back and bailed and how he sat down with Denis and re-wrote the majority of the album lyrically and it is safe to say that this dark bitterness has helped power the album as like I mentioned above the album is fantastic and ‘Sometimes It Ends’ is easily one of the strongest tracks on the album alongside ‘Just A Slave To Rock N Roll’ with its anthemic feel and ‘Undivided’ which happens to be one of the hardest hitting and angry songs Asking Alexandria have ever created with “So get the fuck out, fuck out you’ll take this to your fucking grave fuck off, fuck off I told you that we’d make it our own way” and “You self-righteous, sacrilegious, fucking cunt” being shouted out.
As already mentioned the majority of the album is hard hitting but the band do tone things down for the beautiful ballad ‘Gone’ and it is a much welcome addition and shows that yeah Asking Alexandria are angry and have a lot to vent about yet they are still as diverse now as they ever have been and can still create a song which is going to see everyone take a much needed breather as they sway from side to side with their lighters in the air at the bands live shows.
‘The Black’ is a very important release for Asking Alexandria and it is one that is going to cement them a very solid future as Danny Worsnop leaving the band has made them bigger, better and more determined than ever before and I can see ‘The Black’ featuring in many end of year top album polls once the year is out and we are only a quarter of the way through the year at the moment, what are you waiting for you need this album in your music collection now.
5/5
Review by Trigger
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