With the break up of I Killed t he Prom Queen, Parkway Drive become Australia’s most prominent metalcore act, and with their second full length album, Horizons, cement the fact musically.

While the much maligned metalcore genre gets its share of hate, when performed at a top notch level, I find it thoroughly enjoyable and such is the case with Horizons. Imagine if Killswitch Engage were a bit more brutal and didn’t have whole verse/chorus/verse, clean vocals going on, and you get some idea of Parkway Drive’s well honed and forceful delivery of metalcore.

Sure, it’s nothing new, but it is impeccably well done for the genre and full of moments that define the style. The Adam D (KSE) production is stout and the songs are full of galloping, melodic riffs and ample but not overdone breakdowns. There’s nothing remotely groundbreaking, there’s an acoustic intro, (“Begin”), various moments of still gruff but melodic and hardly over wrought harmonies (“Carrion”, “Five Months”, “Idols and Anchors”, “Frostbite”) and some solemn acoustics to start and end the dramatic album closing title track, but they are balanced by songs that shred and snarl with a confidence and knowledge of the genre that many bands could learn from.

Tracks like “The Siren’s Song”, “Feed Them to the Pigs”, “Boneyards”, “Breaking Point” and “Dead Man’s Chest” are steely tough, dual licked numbers that highlight metalcore’s overlooked harsher side, but still manage to register on your memory with a stern catchiness

Most will turn their nose up at Horizons as an example of a genre that just needs to die, but metalcore fans will appreciate this for what it is; a damn fine example of the genre and a release that shows it can be done very well.

[Visit the band's website]

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