Asking Alexandria + The Ghost Inside – Live @ O2 Academy Birmingham
aaamusic | On 21, Nov 2014
Friday 7th November, Birmingham
Asking Alexandria are no strangers to the UK tour circuit having previously released three albums since 2009 and being considered the top dogs of the metalcore scene. They have been running around the country on the back of their newest release From Death To Destiny…
First up on the stage are Secrets and straight away they appear quite popular with the crowd – a lot of people holding hands aloft, jumping and screaming to the music. It’s a good set, especially from vocalist Richard Rogers, whose clean vocals are on form and improve what may have been a slightly poor performance, especially with frontman Aaron Melzer’s harsh vocals being lost in the overall mix. Secrets struggle to create any lasting memories; everything unfortunately seemed part of a routine and over rehearsed.
Next up are Texan based metallers Crown The Empire, who storm the stage with vigour, as if this was their first day of tour. This is evident from the crowd with of how long they have been waiting for them – after so long of dominating the US, they finally have set their sights on the UK and beyond. Frontmen Andy Leo and David Escamilla own the stage, forming an effecting duo who work well with another, trading off against each other’s skills. Escamilla’s screams are powerful, but despite all the positivity about the performance, again the clean vocals just couldn’t penetrate through the rest of the music and at times were muffled.
Now it was The Ghost Inside’s turn and they don’t falter here in Birmingham. They are by far the hardest and grittiest band of the night, and the most popular support act, walking on with their faces covered with skull bandanas, much to the delight of the crowd who roar with their appearance. Overall, the band have never sounded stronger and are actually more polished in a live set, especially with songs like ‘Engine 45’ and ‘Unspoken’ sounding as heavy as ever and delivering the hardcore blows that this venue has been sorely missing tonight. There is plenty crowdsurfing and moshing to go with it; this crowd has been missing it too. The band give us a taster of what their new material will be like by playing ‘Avalanche’ – it is received with rapturous effect and it will almost certainly elevate The Ghost Inside to bigger and better things.
Tonight is all about Asking Alexandria and this is highlighted by the stage setup, with enough lighting to rival an airfield and Danny’s microphone stand in the centre, wrapped in the Union Jack and England flags. As soon as the lights dim and they step on stage, the crowd lose it with heady screams filling the venue; as soon as the music starts up the crowd are there with them singing along to every word. The band mainly play from their latest release From Death To Destiny and with each passing song it becomes clearer how much lead vocalist Danny Warsnop’s voice has improved over the years, particularly with the cleaner vocals in songs such as ‘Run Free’. Despite my initial shock at how muchAsking Alexandria have changed in terms of appearance, with Danny sporting sunglasses and a cowboy hat, it seems to be for the better, with their overall performance being on par with bands a lot bigger than them. They only get more impressive when they belt out early songs such as ‘Final Episode (Lets Change The Channel)’. Danny and co. are going nowhere but up.
