The word metalcore has been so overused in today’s metal landscape that its meaning has become blurred and fuzzy. Bands are labelled metalcore at the drop of a hat with no real consideration. However, Parkway Drive are the definition of metalcore.

Formed in 2003 in their home town of Byron Bay, Australia, the band have gone from local heroes to the leaders of the pack in a very short amount of time, but this has not fazed them as musicians in the slightest.

Artist: Parkway Drive
Title: Horizons
Type: Album
Label: Relapse Records

From the moment the band’s first full length ‘Killing with a Smile’ was released in 2005 it was like covering gold in gold and calling it turbo gold. Not only did it sound great, it had a reason to sound great, produced by none other than Adam Dutkiewicz (who also took up the role on ‘Horizons’).

As dawn broke on the morning of October 9th 2007, after a two year hiatus, the band’s brand new full length album ‘Horizons’ was unleashed into the world and their immense fan base who were eager to get their ears round the twelve tracks. From the moment the first track finishes, the slow yet pretty track ‘Begin’ seems to be just thrown on the start of the album with no real thought or purpose. It ends abruptly and ruins the flow of the album within the first minute, but thankfully follow up track ‘The Sirens Song’ saves the day by pummelling through 3 minutes and 9 seconds of pure greatness. The remaining eleven tracks are thrown out of the speakers like an angry drunk.

Where Parkway Drive really pick up the metalcore tag is on the track ‘Dead Man’s Chest’. This almost beatdown style track has some happy go fun time rhythms that you can tell mosh-kids are going to be two-stepping to the moon and back with, while keeping enough technical ability in the riffs and structure to keep it in that metal vein.

Winston McCall is a very versatile vocalist and shows huge ability in everything the band has ever released.

‘Horizons’ is not a bad album. Far from it - it’s a fantastic piece of music and solid pretty much all the way through. It’s just that it doesn’t feel as competent as ‘Killing With a Smile’ was and still is.

LFTH Rating: 7.5/10

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