Tag Archive: Asking Alexandria

Is There Something About Structures That I’m Missing?

May.13, 2011

There’s a rumor gaining momentum around the nets that Canadian deathcore/metalcore band Structures are the newest signees for the tiny giant Sumerian Records. I’ve seen them around the web with the progressive deathcore tag, but there isn’t enough going on to capture my attention. The band have been gaining momentum over the last couple of years, touring with the likes of Periphery and Arsonists Get All The Girls, and while they hang with the right crowd that is conducive for the sort of music I’m likely to enjoy, I’m not feeling them like I want to. It’s not that I think they’re particularly bad or anything—in fact, they’re much better than some of the other trite bullshit that has graced the label, like Asking Alexandria and I See Stars. At least with Structures, there’s a hint of progressive influence in their unpredictable song structure, which I can appreciate.

No disrespect to the dudes in Structures in the off chance anyone close to the band sees this; I’m stoked for the band getting signed and I’m glad their hard work paid off. They certainly don’t suck, but I’m not feeling them for the most part. I just feel like I can hear what they offer elsewhere with greater results. I can only assume Structures will have a release on Sumerian by the end of the year. Until then, I guess I’ll keep trying!

I now throw myself to the lions. What do you folks think about Sumerian’s latest addition?

- JR

Tags: Arsonists Get All The Girls, Asking Alexandria, I See Stars, Periphery, Structures

As If Asking Alexandria Couldn’t Sound Any Shittier…

Filed Under: lolwut, New music

Apr.19, 2011

This. Why does Sumerian and Asking Alexandria promote this garbage?

Not only does this not sound like the original song at all, it’s more annoying than the original. Well done, Asking Alexandria; you’ve successfully made your original music sound better than it is.

- GR

Tags: Asking Alexandria

Derping Alexandria

Filed Under: lolwut

Apr.15, 2011

Sometimes we get some absolute gems of e-mails turning up in our inbox. Most are your bog-standard press releases, review requests and interview opportunties, but every once in a while a subject line will catch your attention – a subject line like:

ASKING ALEXANDRIA Surprisingly Offered Opening Slot On Charlie Sheen’s “My Violent Torpedo of Truth Tour”

Surprisingly? Doesn’t quite cover it in my opinion, but then again, if you take a closer look and dissect the following e-mail, it begins to make a little more sense.

The UK hard rock sensation, ASKING ALEXANDRIA, have blazed a trail of debauchery across North America over the course of numerous tours and their lifestyle is now becoming infamous, which has been heralded by many mainstream publications.

“Heralded” in the sense that we’ve all heard how much of a douchebag Danny Worsnop has been of late, and to be fair, the rest of the band’s admirable handling of the situation.

The group’s recent Billboard top ten charting debut, high-profile Jimmy Kimmel Live! performance and reckless image recently caught the attention of representatives of the notorious troubled actor Charlie Sheen. He must have took a liking to the band as he personally extended an offer for them to be the opening act on his current “My Violent Torpedo of Truth Tour.”

A tour which, according to numerous reports, has had droves of people walking out of. Despite all the memes and comedy gold coming out of the man’s mouth, let’s face it: Charlie Sheen is a mess. He’s completely out of touch with ‘this particular terrestrial realm’, and that he considers Asking Alexandria worthy of his own particular brand of anarchy doesn’t bode too well for them.

ASKING ALEXANDRIA was extremely flattered by the offer and are big fans of Sheen, but unfortunately current touring obligations prevented them from accepting this high profile slot.

Probably true, but perhaps a shrewder move on Sumerian’s part that perhaps I’m willing to give them credit for. Distancing yourself from an ticking warhead like Sheen is a no-brainer really, but the excuse is a worthy one, and not a flat-out “dude…just…naw”.

The group would like to publicly thank Sheen for this special invite and promise him that the tiger’s blood runs deep in all of them. Sheen claims to be a rockstar from Mars, but the real question is if he can hang with these British titans. Hopefully their paths will cross one of these days. Winning!

Oh. Dear. Lord. But why do this? Let’s be honest: the Charlie Sheen meme has passed its peak; ‘winning’ is no longer winning, and Adonis DNA has been found to be super inbred. Forcing the funny is impressing no-one, Sumerian.

Worth a few Friday morning lols, before this week’s round of Rebecca Black parodies get going.

- CG

Tags: Asking Alexandria, Charlie Sheen

Asking Alexandria – Reckless and Relentless

Filed Under: Reviews

Apr.06, 2011

Asking Alexandria

Reckless and Relentless

01. Welcome
02. Dear Insanity
03. Closure
04. A Lesson Never Learned
05. To The Stage
06. Dedication
07. Someone, Somewhere
08. Breathless
09.The Match
10. Another Bottle Down
11. Reckless & Relentless
12. Morte et Dabo

[04/05/11]
[Sumerian Records]

It’s rough out there being an Asking Alexandria fan. While I surely think they are better than their contemporaries (think Attack Attack!), it’s surely not something I prefer to listen to. Their previous album Stand Up and Scream was a boring, uneventful chugfest with most of the music either being horrendously stereotypical generic breakdowns or cheesy below average techno. Given the fact that they are signed to Sumerian Records, a record company with a blemish-free line-up of quality bands (sans this band and I See Stars), you wonder why they are even signed to Sumerian in the first place when listening to their previous record. Does this record show any sort of justification of them being signed, or is it more of the same tired equation?

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Tags: Asking Alexandria, Attack Attack, Born of Osiris, bring me the horizon, I See Stars

Asking Alexandria’s Frontman Makes A Fool Of Himself; Band Somehow Redeems Themselves

Filed Under: General News

Apr.04, 2011

Whilst making my daily rounds this weekend over at The PRP, I came across the headline “Asking Alexandria’s Seattle, WA Show Derailed By Intoxicated Frontman, Footage Available.” Obviously, I had to click through to see the video (above) so I could have a good laugh at the expense of the most generic and awful metalcore band in existence today. Instead of hearty laughter, I was actually more concerned than anything else. Alright, so not all metal bloggers are cynical assholes; I do major in social work after all. Let’s break down the video’s events, in case you didn’t want to watch the video.

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Tags: Asking Alexandria, Avenged Sevenfold, Slipknot

Sumerian Nation Collaboration Album Coming Later This Year

Filed Under: General News, Upcoming releases

Mar.28, 2011

Sumerian Records recently dropped word of a collaboration album being made with Sumerian Records artists under the name Sumerian Nation. I’m running under the assumption that it will be similar to Roadrunner United and Nuclear Blast All-Stars collaborations where a hodge-podge of different artists from Sumerian-signed bands write songs together. This could be both great and lackluster—the Sumerian roster has a few unsavory bands tucked into the fold, to put it lightly. Here’s a list of bands signed to the label.

After The Burial
Animals As Leaders
Asking Alexandria
Bizzy Bone
Born of Osiris
Circle of Contempt
Conducting From The Grave
Enfold Darkness
The Faceless
I See Stars
I, The Breather
Lower than Atlantis
Periphery
Stick To Your Guns
Stray From The Path
TRAM
Upon a Burning Body
Veil of Maya

Obviously, The Faceless and Periphery could write a hell of a song between them, but Asking Alexandria and I See Stars coming together on a song could spell disaster. We’ll see how it goes, as it’s pretty split even as far as ratio of good bands to bad, but I’d like to think there’s a high volume of talent on board.

Keep an eye out for more information. This is an interesting idea, and I’d like to hear more about this.

- JR

Tags: After the Burial, Animals As Leaders, Asking Alexandria, bizzy bone, Born of Osiris, Circle of Contempt, Conducting From The Grave, Enfold Darkness, I See Stars, I The Breather, Lower than Atlantis, Periphery, Stick To Your Guns, Stray From The Path, Sumerian Records, The Faceless, TRAM, Upon a Burning Body, Veil of Maya

MAJOR RAGING AT BATTLE OF THE BANDS

Filed Under: lolwut, RAGE

Mar.17, 2011

Nerd reference a-hoy!

So as you may know it’s actually Metal March, in which record companies and others join up to promote themselves through free samplers, etc. Seems fairly innocuous and inoffensive, right? WRONG. Seems ThrashMag.com is running a knock-out battle of the bands with 64 artists from Metal Blade, Sumerian Records, Nuclear Blast and Victory Records(!?). Little do they know that they are casually mining a fairly large ore of rage buried deep within me. Let me just list a few of the travesties that are occuring:

I don’t want to live in a world where As I Lay Dying are beating Behemoth
I don’t want to live in a world where Job For A Cowboy are beating The Ocean
I don’t want to live in a world where Asking Alexandria are beating Fellsilent
I don’t want to live in a world where Shai Halud are beating Gwar
I also don’t want to live in a world where A Day To Remember, Dr. Acula, Emmure and Aiden could even be considered kings of Metal March.

Yes, I know it’s a popularity contest but at least go over there and do the right thing, you have until the 18th before the first round ends, in return I’ll keep quiet about the whole Goatwhore and Between The Buried And Me thing.

-DL

Tags: A Day to Remember, Aiden, As I Lay Dying, Asking Alexandria, Behemoth, Between The Buried and Me, Dr. Acula, Emmure, Fellsilent, Goatwhore, Gwar, Job For A Cowboy, Shai Halud, The Ocean

Sumerian Records Owner Ash Avildsen Opening A Record Store!

Filed Under: General News

Mar.11, 2011

This totally makes up for the headscratcher I took a look at yesterday. Head of Sumerian Records Ash Avildsen is opening what might just be the coolest record stores ever, SoundCheck Hollywood, on Sunset Blvd. Opening a record store is some risky business these days in a world of digital dominance and music piracy, but I think Ash and his crew can pull this one off. I can admire his ambition; instead of hamfisted attempts to incite an armchair revolution, he’s actually doing something about piracy and the decline of the physical format. Soundcheck Hollywood is right in the middle of the action, situated across the street from the legendary Whiskey A Go-Go. This record store will focus on a more underground rock and metal theme and will feature not only CDs and DVDs, but also limited edition vinyl and exclusive tee-shirts.

On top of that, they’re working to close the gap between the artist and fans by hosting meet and greets that break away from the “stand in line and wait your turn” autograph table sessions in a special “Backstage” area of the store. They plan on making the opening day a big one; The official SoundCheck Hollywood grand opening party will take place on March 23rd and will feature signings from Asking Alexandria, Emmure, Animals As Leaders, The Faceless, Suicide Silence, Winds of Plague and many others.

SoundCheck Hollywood will also be selling new releases Monday nights at 9 PM rather than waiting for the next day. The logic makes sense, considering albums get sold on iTunes at midnight on the east coast. If I lived near this place, you can bet I’d start buying more albums. This is pretty ballsy, and I hope it works out.

- JR

Tags: Animals As Leaders, Asking Alexandria, Emmure, Soundcheck Hollywood, suicide silence, Sumerian Records, The Faceless, Winds of Plague

Thrash and Burn Tour 2010: A Big Mess

Filed Under: Tours and Rumors of Tours

May.31, 2010

2010 hasn’t exactly been kind to us. It took away James “The Rev” Sullivan, Peter Steele, Ronnie James Dio, and Paul Grey. Not only have the tragic passing of our heroes made this year one giant let down so far, some circles are calling 2010 “The Year The Festival Died,” and this year’s iteration of the Thrash And Burn Tour sort of provides evidence to the claim.

The lineup consists of headliners Asking Alexandria (wat?!) and Born of Osiris. Support comes in the way off Kittie, Stick To Your Guns, Impending Doom, Through The Eyes Of The Dead (for the first half of the tour), Evergreen Terrace (for the second half), Greeley Estates, Periphery, Motionless In White, and Chelsea Grin.

Fuck me sideways, that would be terrible. I’m not going to speak for the rest of the writers here, but I like Born of Osiris, and Periphery’s debut album is probably my favorite album of the year so far–but I’m not gonna drive for four hours to see Periphery play for fifteen minutes and sit through two or three hours of deathcore and bland metalcore to see them and BOO perform. If I already lived in a city the tour was coming to, I’d might consider going. But they aren’t.

Here are the tour dates:

Jul. 16 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners
Jul. 17 – Nashville, TN @ Rockettown
Jul. 18 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave
Jul. 19 – Indianapolis, IN @ Emerson Theatre
Jul. 21 – Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall
Jul. 22 – Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue
Jul. 23 – Las Vegas, NV @ Rock The Block
Jul. 24 – San Diego, CA @ Soma
Jul. 25 – Pomona, CA @ The Glasshouse
Jul. 26 – Fresno, CA @ The Crest Theatre
Jul. 27 – Los Angeles, CA @ House of Blues
Jul. 28 – Phoenix, AZ @ Nile Theatre
Jul. 30 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theatre
Jul. 31 – Lubbock, TX @ Lonestar Event Center
Aug. 01 – San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit
Aug. 02 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
Aug. 03 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues
Aug. 05 – Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL @ State Theatre
Aug. 06 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
Aug. 07 – Richmond, VA @ Hat Factory
Aug. 08 – Long Island, NY @ Crazy Donkey
Aug. 09 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony
Aug. 10 – Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
Aug. 11 – Buffalo, NY @ Xtreme Wheels
Aug. 12 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Ches Arena
Aug. 13 – Cleveland, OH @ Peabody’s
Aug. 14 – Detroit, MI @ Harpos
Aug. 15 – Chicago, IL @ Metro

If there’s a tour I have a chance at seeing, it’s probably The Cool Tour, which isn’t all that great to begin with, but what other options do I have?

- JR

Tags: Asking Alexandria, Born of Osiris, Chelsea Grin, Dio, Evergreen Terrace, Greeley Estates, Impending Doom, James "The Rev" Sullivan, James Sullivan, Kittie, Motionless In White, Paul Grey, Periphery, Peter Steele, Ronnie James Dio, Stick To Your Guns, The Cool Tour, Thrash and Burn Tour, Through The Eyes Of The Dead

5 Motifs of the Industry that NEED TO DIE

Filed Under: Editorials

May.17, 2010

To start out, I’d like to introduce myself: my name is Joseph but you can call me Yogg Saron (Yes, that IS a WoW reference) and I am new to Heavy Blog Is Heavy. After Alkahest agreed to have me on here, I got to thinking what would be an appropriate first post to act as a precursor for what’s hopefully a long, joyous time writing for Heavy Blog Is Heavy. Prior to getting on board, I wrote on and off for a site called Press On This (I better get something for this shameless plug), where the focus were the wonderful SC3N3 BANDS LYKE OMG. Getting to the point, I decided to go with a topic that’s been stewing in my head for the last however many years: 5 Motifs of the Industry that NEED TO DIE! (These are in no particular order)

1. The Phrase “Oh!”

We’ve all heard and experienced it’s cheesiness. An exaggerated gasp or growl to accent whatever is going on in the song. Great. Mr. Frontman, you’ve just said absolutely nothing of value. Almost never is the term “Oh!” used in stating a complete thought, even when accompanied by more useless ramblings, such as “Oh the blood, Oh the blood…” (Attack Attack!) or “Oh My God!” (Pretty much everyone else). I, for one did not get into heavy music to be bombarded by a motif that’s just as at home in R&B. It’s just become one of those things added to the equation to get noticed by overweight, multicolored scene kids with unnecessary attitudes. Another variation worth mentioning is the “Come On!”.

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