Parkway Drive, a name that the majority of heavy metal fans and metal fans alike will know, they’ve been around now for over 12 years, it’s hard to not know who they are. The band began in 2003, rising from the depths of New South Wales (Australia) and very quickly took over the world with countless world tours and festival appearances off their own backs. Fast forward to the present and they have four full-length albums, an EP, two DVDs and even a book! Now they’re back with fifth studio album ‘IRE’, but have they managed to keep to their metal-core roots?
The track that really stands out in ‘IRE’ is ‘Dedicated’. The vocal opening feels like being smashed in the face with a wheelbarrow full of nails, the song opens up with the brutal lines, “YOU CAN’T BREAK ME” and from then on is just an all round banger. Most of the lyrical content on the record pours from vocalist Winston Mcall’s very own personal life, with tales or hardships within band life and his love life and are delivered in the most demonic of guttaral lows, where we begin to ask ourselves wether its possible for a human to make such noise. His words make you take a back seat and understand that being in a band clearly is not an easy ride.
Sadly in our opinion, ‘Dedicated’ is the only true “Parkway” feeling song on the whole album, as the rest of the tracks seem lost with what the band are trying to achieve. It’s understandable that recycling the same sound again and again over 4 albums can be very boring for a band, but listeners love Parkway Drive because they are Parkway Drive, with such epic hits like ‘Carrion’ and ‘Sleepwalker’ this album lacks such impact. That being said ‘Vice Grip’ shows elements of promise, despite the layered 80’s hair metal riffs, simplistic lyrical patterns, and easy choruses.
The album feels way too chorus driven for a Parkway Drive release, with track after track failing to please our ears. It seems there is too much emphasis on writing a catchy chorus than actually spending time on writing a well-crafted track. You can understand what they are trying to achieve, by experimenting with their sound and taking chances, but we feel like they should have waited a little bit longer. It feels as if they’ve tried to reach out to the mainstream metal market, but unfortunately have failed in making an album worth our while, and one that will be overly disappointing to long term Parkway Drive fans. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
ROB LEA