Ben Bruce: New Asking Alexandria Album Has My ‘Biggest’ Guitar Riffs
Asking Alexandria's sixth album, Like a House on Fire, arrives this spring. But should any listeners be wondering about the magnitude of the effort's shredding, guitarist Ben Bruce has set out to put their minds at ease. He recently said the upcoming collection contains some of the "biggest" riffs he's ever written.
That's what the Asking Alexandria member shared with Kerrang in an interview published Wednesday (March 18). But it's not only the guitar parts that pack a wallop on Like a House on Fire, as Bruce opined. The compositional aspects surrounding those six-string surges are purportedly just as strong.
"I think the guitar riffs are the biggest I've ever written," the guitarist explained. "I think the lyrics are fucking fantastic; I think the songwriting is the strongest it's ever been."
Bruce added that the effort has "something for everyone in it: there are heavy sections, there are sing-along sections, there are a lot of jumping, energetic sections, there are dance sections. When people listen to the journey and come along for the ride, they're going to experience a vast number of emotions from start to finish."
Asking Alexandria know how to evoke significant reactions, highlighted by the response they got to 2013's From Death to Destiny. But while Bruce said the band "love the sound of that record," he drove home that the group's members are in a "better headspace" than when they recorded that album.
"When we did From Death To Destiny, we were so messed up on drugs and so torn by people pulling us in different directions," Bruce recalled. "It was probably the worst experience of our lives creating a record."
Remembering the effort's reception, the guitarist continued, "When From Death To Destiny came out, people called us a country-pop band, and we were like, 'What are you talking about?' And now we have people that have grown up with that album that are like, 'That was the last great metalcore album!'"
Like a House on Fire — the band's first album since its 2017 self-titled release — is due May 15. It's already spawned the singles "Antisocialist," "They Don't Want What We Want (And They Don't Care)," and "The Violence." Last year, Asking Alexandria singer Danny Worsnop released solo album Shades of Blue.
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