Review Summary: Parkway Drive exceed expectations with Horizons.
Parkway Drive is one of two Aussie Hardcore/Metalcore bands to recently make waves in the genre, and the only one still together, as I Killed The Prom Queen have recently called it quits. Horizons is their second full-length after 2 split albums with IKTPQ and an EP, and this record shows the many aspects of their abilities through and through. The first thing the listener notices after the album gets going with "The Siren's Song", is the thick layers of bass and guitars that seems to get lost with many of today's metalcore acts. This tone is definitely one of Parkway Drive's strong suits. It is noticible throughout the entire CD, with the exception of the intro of "Idols And Anchors". The quick guitar parts help to drive this home by concentrating on speed and accuracy while letting the bass be itself. The overall tone is very well put together.
The drumming is well done, but unfortunately, nothing to really gawk over. It does add to the layered tone effect mentioned earlier, and also does a great job of keeping time, however, doesn't really do anything to break new ground.
Another asset the band has is their very versatile vocalist Winston McCall who manages to get his energy across in every song on the album. Sometimes (and this being a very small downfall of the record, as it rarely happens), the vocals even seem to overpower the instruments, such as on (again) the intro of "Idols And Anchors" (presumably because of the lack of the layered quality). The vocal power, however, is a great thing. Metalcore, of late, has become sadly oversaturated with badly done clean vocal performances, and Parkway Drive address this issue with a lack of any clean vocals on the record. It is a fantastic break from the monotony that has become the scream-verse sing-chorous formula that is far too overused. There are also many effects used on the vocals, such as distortion and alot of echos and vocal layering that deeply add to the overall performance.
The only other complaint is that, if listened to all the way through, one notices that some of the intros sound very closely alike, such as on "The Siren's Song" and "Breaking Point". They do sound great, as all of the intros do, just very similar.
Overall, Parkway Drive have very much exceeded expectations with this release, and will hopefully inspire other metalcore acts to divert from the tried-and-true (but getting rather boring) methods that many of them use. I look forward for much more from this band in the future.
Standout tracks: "The Siren's Song" "Carrion" "Five Months" "Moments In Oblivion"
