Killing with a smile,
Parkway DriveParkway Drive are very much a modern day metal band. Their sound is very close to the likes of Unearth and Darkest Hour, harnessing the speed and brutality of At The Gates and spiking it with a twist of hardcore, whilst at the same time tempering it all with melody. Still, a lot of awful metal bands get signed these days and the point is these guys are pretty damn good.
Killing with a Smile is an incredible sounding album and the production plays a large role in this. Killswitch Engage axe-man Adam Dutkiewicz is the guy responsible for taking the helm and making it all sound enormous. Turn the bass up and get a load of the hollow stomp at the beginning of ‘Anasasis’; it’s enough to make your eyes water.
Refreshingly, rather than aping Iron Maiden for all their riffs, Parkway mix bison-flooring breakdowns with technical, edgey guitar work, giving their sound more impact. It has to be said that if the frat-boy nature of a lot of metal acts these days is going to put you off no matter what else they have to offer then it’s time to turn around. Vocalist Winston McCall grunts and snarls like Hetfield and Anselmo arm-wrestling, and they quote from Die-Hard before a breakdown in ‘Guns for Show, Knives for a Pro’. But this attitude suits them to a tee because it’s backed up with monstrous songs that need arrogance for fuel.
The impressiveness of just how heavy Killing with a Smile is can’t be emphasised enough. ‘Romance Is Dead’ for example is a ferocious rebuke upon a former lover that throws itself around like a gorilla in a riot, whilst ‘Smoke ‘Em If Ya Got ‘Em shreds like Slayer. The likes of Atreyu and Avenged Sevenfold are quite rightly put in their place. To summarise, if you like metal, buy this now, and if you thought it was all hair dye and make-up these days, think again.
Golf Records
Alex
