Denis "Stoff" Shaforostov, the Ukrainian-born vocalist who fronted ASKING ALEXANDRIA on their 2014 album The Black, is back with new music. His current outfit DRAG ME OUT has released "Can't Keep On Running Away" through the Life Or Death label — the group's first new material since their second album Demons Away in May 2022.
The track plunges into themes of confrontation and emotional reckoning, territory Stoff has made distinctly his own since stepping away from ASKING ALEXANDRIA. "I've been working on new music all along and really got too much music in my bag right now," the vocalist revealed, suggesting a steady flow of releases may be on the horizon.
Stoff was careful to frame the single as a self-contained statement: "This is a standalone single and it doesn't make a real emphasis on what's coming next" — though the comment itself leaves the door wide open. He drew a direct line between the new track and his most devoted fans: "I felt like every fan that connected with 'I Won't Give In' from The Black era would say that this song was written for them."
DRAG ME OUT built their fanbase independently: a self-released debut in 2021, Demons Away through their own Lödereih Music imprint in 2022, and now a return through a dedicated label home. With "Can't Keep On Running Away" now streaming everywhere, Stoff continues to prove that his tenure with ASKING ALEXANDRIA — brief but impactful — was merely a chapter, not the whole story.