Parkway Drive - Deep Blue - Review

What happens when a band turns quite a few heads with their first signed album? Well, apart from enduring the seething jealousy of lesser artists trying to make their way, they do their very best to write a follow up album that impresses even further. So what happens then when that same band writes one of the most intimidating and musically jaw dropping sophomore albums that metalcore has to offer? According to Parkway Drive, they name that album a masterpiece and move on to record another that sounds different. Amazing feats were achieved in Horizons, insane guitar solos and ingenious breakdowns and so on, but instead of entertaining vain attempts outdo to themselves in that same style, the Byron Bay boys have undertaken a brutish new sound for their third studio album, Deep Blue.

Upon first terms with the new album, the band seemed to have become extremely shy of creativity, opening shortly with a very typical breakdown, and following with the previously revealed new song “Unrest”. The purpose is clearly to queue avid listeners into the new brutality that is Deep Blue, but is at most a collision of several cookie-cutter breakdowns. With initial impressions sagging my excitement a bit, “Sleepwalker” emerged in a hyper new form that Parkway Drive has never taken before, deploying a catchy guitar riff teamed with a steady kick beat. As it lulls into concaves of sluggish beatdowns, it does well to rear back into full speed and offer a fantastic harmony of string mastery and powerful vocals.

Where Horizons was a sinister and spear headed creature, Deep Blue is a much more hulking beast. The music relies heavily now on massive chords and steady drumming. Ben Gordon parallels his drums to Jeff Ling and Luke Kilpatrick’s guitars more so than ever, creating a stronger bond and a fuller sound. “Wreckage” is a beautiful example of this. The teamwork of the instruments accented by Winston McCall’s guttural vocals exemplifies a well oiled machine working at full capacity.

“Deadweight” carries a hopeful ambience in its folds of intensity. The blistering speed continues at full throttle until a marvelous breakdown, and I continue to gasp in awe at the fortitude of McCall’s ridiculous vocals. They have been a mainstay in Parkway Drives music, and continue to be as he gains experience and variation. “Alone” does finally relax the album a little bit. Though mostly uneventful, it has its moments of aspiration and serves as a worthy monster of a ballad. “Pressures” opens a little strangely, but soon instigates a rampage of breakdowns, thrash beats, and background guitar solos. The riot spills over into “Deliver Me”, which gets sincerely circle-pit-dirty at times, and tweedles a few guitar strings in pretty harmonies. But the breakdown that follows the excruciating build up in the middle of the track is commenced by such an epic scream; I dare you not to bang your head. This is definitely my pick for best moment of Deep Blue, contending with the notorious end to Horizons’ “Boneyards”, “there’s blood in the water.”

The party continues into “Karma”, which is opened by Ben Gordon’s chance to really show off, but if I may say so, McCall’s vocals are exceptional as well, dropping on a dime to a range of different pitches. “Home is for the Heartless” now slows thing down a little bit with frequent doses of docile gang vocals and a guest appearance of Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion, and experiments in touches of pop-punk influenced metal, which seems to be gaining a foothold in heavier bands. “Hollow”, I think, takes a page out of PD’s first album, Killing With a Smile, basing on breakdown beats and hardcore influences, especially when adding in more guest vocals from The Warriors’ Marshall Lichtenwaldt.

I never felt like the album ended properly, but that’s just me. “Leviathan I” passes in generally the same fashion as the majority of the album, but the final track is so short and sudden, the ending feels unnatural. While both tracks are impressive, there was no tone of farewell. In fact, “Set To Destroy” pumped me up even more than the previous tracks. Though Deep Blue clocked in at an impressive 45 minutes, I still wanted to hear more.

Parkway Drive hooked a lot of people into fandom with their first release, then impressed the crap out of a lot more with their sophomore release, but now their ambition stands that they cut a new path for themselves. To disappoint me, Deep Blue doesn’t have any of the unprecedented guitar solos like Horizons did, and the breakdowns are slightly less inspired in my opinion. To impress me beyond reason however, it does dive into a deeper pool of brutality than they have in the past and the musicianship and teamwork that they now practice has built up a new standard for metalcore. I am not convinced that Deep Blue is written quite as well as Horizons, but differently and certainly more professionally. It has earned from me a steady 4 out of 5 napkins.

Artist: Parkway Drive
Album: Deep Blue
Release: June 29, 2010
Label: Epitaph Records
Length: 45 minutes, 5 seconds
Rating: 4/5

MyChildren MyBride - Lost Boy - Review

In 2008, MyChildren MyBride took hold of our attention and bombarded our keen ears with straightforward, breakdown-heavy metalcore. It was a good platform to begin upon, but most of their songs sounded the same. The majority of their notoriety as well erupted from their “show song” “Headshot”. After several years of touring building up a fan base, the Madison, Alabama quintet has finally moved on to their sophomore album. Taking their time was a wise decision though, and thoroughly understood, as there is always tremendous pressure on follow up albums. This is the peak that they have to scale to achieve any future success. They started out well, but now Lost Boy has the expectations of the fans to deal with.

Slowly, the raging beat of “Terra Firma” creeps up to its full speed and volume. The guitars begin to chug in an odd, growling tone that is much the same as their previous album and the drums chime slowly at first, with a contrast of double kick spurts at blistering speeds. But the track strolls on, introducing MCMB’s new endevours in confident guitar chords and premium bass drops scattered throughout, ending in a slow and sinister breakdown.

“Hooligans” shoots out at a similar tempo to its predecessor, but throws caution to the wind with catastrophic gang vocals breaking out in chorus, “We are the lions!” And it becomes clear in just a few minutes that MCMB’s liberal use of breakdowns has not halted to any degree. But to kick off the first real exploration into new territory, “King of the Hopeless” rips onto stage front and center. Robert Bloomfield and Daniel Alvarado have gotten much more creative with their guitaring, carrying them much like Darkest Hour, dark, melodic and energetic. Very different vocals open the track, followed by a fast, thrash beat and on and off guitars. The song is just dripping with honest passion and encouraging guitar chords, contrary to the title, especially in the wonderfully vocally driven breakdown. It’s so brutal, but slaps a smile so hard onto your face you just want to throw down in hugs.

Matthew Hasting kicks up his vocal variety a notch this time around. There’s a touch more emotion in his yelly screams as well as control between higher and lower or throaty and “umph” growls. “Crimson Grim” takes MCMB to another place they’ve never been, adding much more intricate riffs and beefing up their breakdowns to sound less dry and overlong. As in Unbreakable, half their material was breakdowns that held very little personality. His time there’s more than just a slow beat and a few low chugs.

Actually, with the opening of the title track, you start to realize that there are probably even more breakdowns than before, but they are placed behind more music rather than as empty interludes. The lead guitar spews out fancy songs of its own and Hasting’s vocals blanket most of the music, but well camouflaged breakdowns play the backbone of the song whenever there isn’t a sporty blast or thrash beat under chord choruses. They have discovered that adding vocals to a breakdown is an ever-effective method of hiding it from general attention.

Song after song though, you can expect at least one prominent breakdown in each track. The end of “Dark Passenger” is particularly gruesome. “Digital Rebirth” is the sugar rush of the album, never slowing down between its dark undertone intro, its toe-tapping anthem chorus or its sporadic blast beat verses. The energy in the vocals carries over into “Redeemer”, but the drums morph into hardcore mode. Partnered with the upbeat melodies and gang vocals, it’ll have you moving fast and grinning wide. “Nuclear+” is a vicious monster that drags you in with lightning fast beats and endless screaming, then devours you with a thunderous breakdown powered by Hasting’s tempo chasing barks.

You’re in for a real surprising treat from “Lungs Full of Water”. It begins way off of MCMB’s usual niche, chiming a lot closer to something like As I Lay Dying. Streaming into their own style again for a little while, a crushing breakdown kicks in before the beat changes back to hardcore and gang vocals once again. At times, it sounds very reminiscent of Unbreakable’s “Headshot”, but then ends somewhat abruptly. But waiting just over a minute, a very sullen musical transition occurs, which opens up slightly, but remains for several minutes as a solemn conclusion to the album. Throughout, we hear several sound clips amongst the music starting with the shuffling of feet to a man speaking to someone, urging them “not to move.” Further on, there is a haunting bustle of children’s voices, lockers opening and closing, footsteps up a staircase, and finally – silence.

The Unbreakable sound is certainly still here, but very wisely improved upon. The band has recognized their flaws and fixed them just about as well as would be expected in a model sophomore album. Lost Boy is a prime example of healthy progression, trying new things but retaining the sound that grew their fan base in the first place. Their constant dry breakdowns tired me out in their first album, but instead of reducing them, they made them much more palatable and entertaining. Each member has clearly improved and experimented with their specific instruments, adding a lot of good little things into the mix with great big things. Releasing a sophomore album is risky business, but MyChildren MyBride’s confident and high energy performance in Lost Boy has catapulted them safely over the mountain of expectations and well past the line of concern.

Artist: MyChildren MyBride
Album: Lost Boy
Release: June 8, 2010
Label: Solid State
Length: 11 tracks: 40 minutes, 43 seconds
Rating: 4/5

Originally posted on Jesus Freak Hideout.