Parkway Drive - Atlas (2012)Release ID: 5370
G'day mate! Welcome to Australia, the "land down under"! I have a few friends who live there, in this website and in the outside world, but I hope they can survive the HUGE bugs and creatures that can eat you up and swallow you whole. Anyway, one of the best things in Australia for me are the bands, and one of those bands is Parkway Drive! I'm sure metalcore fans would think of this band whenever they think of even Australia itself. They've been dominating the metalcore scene in both Australia and America.
Atlas is Parkway Drive's 4th full-length album and once again might be an honorable mention for the top half of Parkway Drive's discography, possibly one of my favorite metal albums in 2012. I've been a Parkway Drive fan for a few months now and I can see their improving progression throughout their tenure which is kinda hard for a genre that hasn't been progressing. Their previous album Deep Blue is something different; a concept album with different production. Many fans love it while others hate it and prefer their first two albums. I'm in both of those fan categories! Either way, you're gonna love Atlas as much as their previous albums.
The intro track "Sparks" opens the album with a classical vibe; acoustic guitar over an orchestral march. Soon it starts building up in heaviness before crashing into the next track, "Old Ghost/New Regrets" begins the metalcore action with a killer 30-second riff/verse. That song's lyrics are about past war creating present atrocities in our world ("Bleed the earth, bleed her 'til her heart no longer beats"). "Dream Run" sounds really cool in the beginning rising from lo-fi to high-quality originality. "Wild Eyes" has epic background chants and a cool bridge. The lyrics continue the theme of was from the past causing atrocities in the world today, this time in an anthem that you can sing and shout along to. VIVA THE UNDERDOGS!!
Then it segues to "Dark Days" with lyrics about the sustainability on the Earth. Sounds cheesy but convincing! Next song, "The River" can be considered the long middle epic of this album, a bit like the previous album's "Alone", except there's a longer song later in this album. The intro sounds similar to that song's intro, this time with clean female background vocals. After that intro, the next couple minutes with the riff, verse, and chorus are a great blend of epic and extreme. More clean female vocals come later in this song. "Swing" really swings through the heaviness of their previous albums, continuing the theme of world issues, here about politicians corrupting the world. Make it turn or burn! "The Slow Surrender" opens like a song from the Don't Close Your Eyes EP, but it's much slower like as slow as a power ballad. The bridge has Winston McCall's vocals record-scratched up like a DJ, like WHAT?! I didn't think Parkway Drive would ever add anything the band can't replicate live!
The title track is more progressive, once again having the classical vibe of acoustic guitar over orchestral background. "Sleight of Hand" starts with a slow intro similar to a couple songs in the previous album, then we get into another killer verse riff. Once again we return to the lyrical theme of world atrocities in the past and present. In "Snake Oil And Holy Water", the verse riff is a more diverse flashback to the band's first two albums. "Blue and the Grey" is the true album epic, once again opening in slow dramatic orchestration behind the heaviness. Sometime after the 2-minute mark is a great chord progression of notes. It also has my favorite lyrics in the album, combining all of its present themes in a very poetic manner.
Atlas is an extraordinary album filled with great riffs, drums, and vocals. They really took the time to write note after note and lyric after lyrics, and even though they might sound similar to some songs in earlier albums, they still sound great when you really listen to them well. Both fans from the very beginning of the band and new fans will love this album. There's almost nothing that needs to be changed, and that's how much I enjoy this album. Parkway Drive is truly a metalcore powerhouse and with this album, they still managed to stay on top. This album is worth every single cent! However, we got a much different future for the band in our hands....
Favorites: "Old Ghost/New Regrets", "Wild Eyes", "Dark Days", "The River", "Sleight of Hand", "Blue and the Grey"
