Review: Asking Alexandria – Reckless & Relentless

Rated:

4/5

On Reckless & Relentless, the second full-length by English screamo-inflected metalcore outfit Asking Alexandria—who are performing at the 2011 Revolver Golden Gods in L.A. on April 20—the group expands its sound by incorporating more bits of techno and industrial, from the booming drum intro on “Closure” to the orchestral closer “Morte e Dabo.” The album’s first real song, “Dear Insanity,” which comes after a piano-and-growls opener, serves sort of as a reminder of the band’s more straightforward sound on previous album Stand Up and Scream, full of vicious screamed vocals and crushing breakdowns, before diving fully into their musical experiments. It’s in the final third of the album, though, where the group’s genre commingling really shines and the electronic overtones add to some of the group’s heaviest songs. Beginning with “Breathless,” which veers between melodic singing and gurgly death-metal growls, Reckless & Relentless almost becomes a new album—and one that is definitely worth picking up. VALERIE FOLEY