Facts first: Parkway Drive, Australian band, have been going on for a decade or so. 'Atlas' is their fourth album.
'Is it a good album?' I hear someone ask in the background, and to that I have to say 'Yes, yes, it's a good album!'
Metalcore is the root of what these guys do, but there's more to it than just that. There was a time when anyone, or so it seemed along these northern shores, wanted to be metalcore. This is, fortunately, not the case anymore, but there are good things about metalcore and some bands, like Parkway Drive, understand to use it intelligently and in a mix with other influences.
Not knowing Parkway Drive beforehand, I at first thought they were a goth or doom band! The intro to this album reeks of gloomy atmosphere and left me completely baffled when it suddenly turned into a metalcore orgy.
There is no doubt that Parkway Drive aren't quite like the rest. Wild Eyes surprises with catchy gang shouts, The River surprises with a female voice and the title track is something I can best describe as a metalcore ballad (if that in ANY way makes sense?).
Back that with convincing riffing, a brutal voice in the front, and you have a album that is not just for the metalcore fanatics.
As I said, a good album any means, which you can also see from the rating, however one dent is that the two last tunes, Snake Oil and Holy Water and Blue and the Grey aren't up the standard of the rest of the album - fillers, in other words. Otherwise approved through and through.
