Review Summary: Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em
In the summer of 2003 in the town of Byron Bay, Australia a band was formed called Parkway Drive (due to the street of the house where they used to practice.) They have released 4 complete albums to date, a split EP with country mates I Killed the Prom Queen, their debut EP
Don't Close Your Eyes, their highly regarded debut full length,
Killing With A Smile, and finally this one entitled
Horizons. Released on the 6th of October, 2007 Horizons stands posed to catapult the band into headlining slots and even bigger and wider audiences than they have seen before. It debuted #6 on the ARIA charts (the Australian music sales chart.) For a band that has only been together for a round about 5 years, I'd say they're doing pretty well how about you?
Horizons, fundamentally, I feel is the bands strongest album to date, mixing elements from every one of their albums, they come out swinging for the fences and it doesn't let up until the album is over. Kicking off after a slow but subtly diverse intro the album dives headfirst into a maelstrom of intensity. The first thing you will notice about their sound is the fact that it is much faster. The tempo has been considerably sped up from the last album and you can tell that right off the bat with songs like, "The Sirens Song", "Boneyards", and the title track "Horizons". Yet at the same time exploring the more melodic side with songs like, "Carrion", "Frostbite", and "Five Months", while other songs like "Breaking Point" and "Dead Mans Chest" just aim to pummel the listener into submission. One of the main highlights from the beginning of Parkway Drive's career was the presence of vocalist Winston McCall in the studio and on the road. Winston's voice has to be one of the best in the entire metalcore genre, his voice is powerful and very clean. Now with the presence of lows being added into the mix (Breaking Point, Dead Mans Chest), Winston has grown substantially from Killing With A Smile. But at the same time Winston has not been noted as the best lyricist, coming up with some very sub par lyrics and very childish and sometimes ludicrous one liners ("So cry me a ***ing river, Bitch!") but I can say that he has stepped up and gotten rid of the childish nuances of their previous release. The lyrics still aren't anything special but for once you can see them taking a step in the right direction.
Another highlight of the band has been the presence of the two guitarists (Jeff Ling and Luke Kilpatrick) on almost every song these two are playing off of each others energy and creating some of the most memorable and interesting guitar structures/riffs. Coupled together with some insanely heavy breakdowns and rhythm sections, the guitars almost steal the show from Winston's vocals. But they aren't without their faults, some of the breakdowns can get a little monotonous in areas where they seem to drag on and on and just make the song tedious to listen to. Also, the guitars can sound a bit recycled in some areas and you may be wondering if you heard that riff earlier in the album. The production on the album is as clean as it gets, the guitars are completely balanced, the drums (some will argue that the drums are maybe a bit over-produced) are pummeling and have a very full sound to them. The vocals soar on top of everything else and are not too loud or too quiet, done just right thanks to Killswitch Engage's, Adam D. behind the switches,but the one thing they could not escape is the inaudible bass. On almost every newer release now days the bass is completely un heard of, there are very few instances where you can hear the bass on this album, which is a shame since everything else was produced so well. But it seems like it is a problem that seems not only to plague this band but just about any band that has a cd out nowadays.
With the problems listed above there are a few things that will make your listening experience of this album a bit tedious if you are new to this band or genre. But if you loved
Killing With A Smile, I would recommend getting this. The main thing that excites me is when a band steps out of what they have already done and tries to do something different, sometimes succeeding and other times falling flat on their face. Upping the tempo and not necessarily trying anything groundbreaking, they took what they knew how to do and tried to expand upon both of those ideas and make an album that stands out in their circle. For all intents and purposes, I think they are succeeding. Now with the album released and future tours ahead, one can only wonder what these group of Aussie boys will think of next.
