One of my favorite albums of all time and one of the few that has tracks that I never skip (aside from Dedication cause was that song even necessary?)

This album was extremely influential and the production and a lot of musical elements were ripped off for a really long time.

The choruses were all extremely memorable and the lyrics, although very negative and nihilistic, stick with you.

This album is almost perfect for me, but there's only one flaw. Not enough riffs. This album had fewer memorable riffs than their previous album and leaned more heavily into the chuga dum dum sort of metalcore that the band became known for.

Their breakdowns are easily their best selling point, however this album proved to me that too much of a good thing can be bad. Every breakdown is great, but after each song I was left with a yearning to hear more riffs like the one at the beginning of Closure or the intro to Dear Insanity.

All in all an extremely solid album that every heavy metal fan should hear at least once.

9.5/10 ... See More

This album is very juvenile, simplistic and the least impressive in their discography.

That being said, this album shaped an entire genre and was ripped off for years to come. The sound to this album quickly became seen as generic, but that was simply because every other warped tour era band ripped off the sound until it became played to death.

No one could do it quite like the original though. No particular song in this album stands out from their discography, however the drum work is extremely memorable to this day. Paired with the production work of Joey Sturgis, the drumming on this album is absolutely phenomenal with some of the best writing and most memorable drum fills you will ever hear.

The guitar, when compared to the drumming, seems very simplistic. That doesn't take away from it at all though, as some of the riffs are super memorable. Even this bands greatest detractors would recognize them immediately.

Although the lyrics and some of the content didn't age well, It's a solid album that will survive the test of time because of its phenomenal production. It launched their very successful career and was extremely influential, and anyone who denies it's influence is simply wrong.

8/10 ... See More

As a fan of their older stuff and also their new stuff, I think this album is by far the best sound for them. Musically, this album sounds like the crossbreed between Slipknot and Motley Crue, and artistically, is Asking Alexandria at their peak.

This album has the most emotional intelligence of all of their discography and a lot of other albums in the same genre. Some of the lyrics are so deep and heartbreaking it's darn near impossible not to feel something. From unapologetically submitting to their demons on Don't Pray For Me, to woefully expressing the grief of losing someone you love to those demons on Killing You, this album is a gut punch of emotion.

The writing on The Death of Me (the metal version not the watered down -but still good- radio edit) is also phenomenal, lyrically but most impressively sonically. The meshing of the powerful yet warm and somber guitar tones to create a soothing yet devastating wall of sound backed by the powerful drums edited with a hint of the Joey Sturgis sound we all know and love but mixed with a blend of the more natural and dirty, with a more flat sounding kick drum sound we would normally hear from a Slipknot record really gives the drumming a bigger sense of legitimacy due to it sounding more live and natural, which is vital as James Cassell's is one of the best to ever do it. The guitar riff on this song is absolutely mesmerizing only to be matched perfectly by the sporadic yet rhythmic vocals which implement various style of screaming.

Dont Pray For Me, Killing You, The Death of Me, Believe and Until The End have some of the most memorable riffs Ben Bruce has ever written, accompanied by some powerful and extremely moving chords played on their choruses.

Their choruses on this album are definitely the most moving sections. Every chorus is unique both vocally and instrumentally. The chorus instrumentals on songs like Believe, Poison and Dead create collosal and very animated walls of sound that create the perfect foundation for Danny Worsnops powerful soaring vocals to create a sound that is entirely unprecedented and has yet to be matched until this day.

Soft songs like Moving On, White Line Fever and to a lesser extent The Road or Creature, create a nice break from the heaviness and they manage to not only not take away from the theme of the album but compliment it.

These soft songs became staples in their discography and showed how dimensional they can be as musicians as they demonstrated their versatility and did so very well. Moving On is an emotional masterpiece and one of the most well written rock songs I've ever listened to, yet it still somehow pales in comparison to the rest of the heavy hitters on this album (a testament to the greatness of the heavier tracks)

The only bad part about this album is that it ends, and the sad realization that AA never went back to this sound. The Black is heavy as well, but it doesn't have the emotional and musical maturity displayed in this album. They came close to replicating this magic with their self titled 2017 release, but it fell short due to the amount of radio and arena rock songs.

From Death to Destiny is a masterpiece that was hurt by a troubled production, but even then it still managed to shine as one of the most moving and best metal albums of all time. Truly, their magnum opus.

10/10 ... See More