Parkway Drive – Deep Blue

I’m going to do something I’ve never done before and write this review fully aware and self conscious about where it stands in this discourse we call reviewing.  You see, during my research for Parkway Drive’s latest full length, Deep Blue, I came across some deeply polarized opinions.  Now this isn’t particularly uncommon, but in this case two reviews really stood out, both representing different but integrally related factions of the same punk community.

The first, bearded punk stronghold Punknews.org, and second its younger, outwardly “hipper” counterpart, Absolutepunk.net (take both of those descriptions with a grain of salt).  Both sites have become landmark authorities in many punk circles, and press outlets and labels have come to rely on them for quality review coverage.  While it’s true that both feed different audiences, they’ve both earned the ear of the world, and should each be respected in their own right.  So what to think when Absolutepunk’s Drew Beringer trumpet’s Deep Blue as Parkway Drive’s  “best album to date” and goes on to praise its as their “rawest and heaviest sound ever,” whereas Org reviewer Sloane Daley dismisses the effort, claiming that “there isn’t anything redeeming… in the lyrics, the playing of the instruments, the vocals, or the production.”  What to think indeed…

Well, there are several options, but only a couple worth delving too deeply into; the most obvious being that these reviewers hold radically different tastes – but while that might makes sense when explaining stylistic bias, it wouldn’t fully explain the vicious nature of Daley’s words and borderline personal attacks.  Instead, I think it more likely that something big is at stake – at least for one of the reviewers – and that under this pretext it’s very easy to be critical and reactionary.  Allow me to explain.

Over the past decade, many people have criticized the explosion of sleek commercial hardcore – myself included.  The type that has ultimately replaced the popularity of mid-90’s punk and that which it is still evolving into (what we might vaguely call the post-emo and post-Hot Water Music era), and allow band’s like Parkway Drive to flourish and thrive on a hugely popular sound that has come to muddy the line between counterculture and the commercial mainstream (e.g: classic example being Hot Topic).  To cut to the chase, Absolutepunk has emerged from and consequently thrived under this new climate, whereas Punk News arguably distances itself from this movement willingly (which is often used as a source of pride).

Now consider that the very label that Punk News patrons practically idolized during their heyday released Deep Blue, Epitaph Records, and the source of frustration becomes clear.  And to add salt to the wound, Epitaph can largely take credit for “discovering” and pushing Parkway Drive upon the world.  Had Parkway Drive been signed by then home for hardcore Trustkill Records (now Bullettooth), I doubt anyone would have held such bad blood – even if they truly disliked the band and their sound.

So now with that out of the way, how do I feel about the record?  After all, this is still a review.  Well, I’ll be the first to admit that heavy, gut wrenching hardcore isn’t my specialty, but I have no problem admitting that I still find myself falling for some of the gems that emerge from time to time.  But even then I tend to shy away from the heaviest of hardcore and go with something a little more dynamic – likeEvery Time I Die, Memphis May Fire, or more recently, Norma Jean.  Parkway Drive on the other hand, is really quite dark, and focuses its strength on chugging riffs and gut churning growls.  I wouldn’t say their sound is terribly unique for what many have been called their best, but I can’t deny that all of the mechanics are in the right places.  Vocalist Winston McCall commands a surprisingly clear demonic voice with regards to lyrics, and there is a good bit of variability in tempo to boot – “Sleepwalker” for instance, with its changing voices and evolving rhythms, makes for a fairly enjoyable four minutes.

My biggest issue with the bulk of Deep Blue though, is that when the blanket riffs play, there isn’t a terrible amount to hold on to.  Granted, when they start layering on the guitar solos as per sections of “Wreckage,” I’m back in, but I get the feeling that if they threw caution to the wind and left those riffs with their past releases, I’d be placing Parkway Drive much higher in my list of contemporary heavy hardcore.  There’s just so much potential in the speedy guitars and pounding drums of tracks like “Deadweight” that it’s a shame they retreat so readily into sluggish breakdowns.  I won’t go into great detail about too many of the tracks though, since they seem to reuse many of the same tricks I’ve already commented on.

But on one last note, a lot has been said about Bad Religion’s Brett Gurewitz contributing guest vocals on “Home Is For The Heartless.”  To be honest, they really don’t do much, and sound rather dilute next to McCall, even if they do offer some of that much needed variability – the big, anthemic “woahs” are quite welcome though.  The song isn’t bad, but its success shouldn’t be credited to Gurewitz.

So where does this leave me?  Well, without sounding like some sort of all knowing authority (because as you probably already believe, I’m not), Deep Blue is far from horrible.  To ignore that with Deep Blue Parkway Drive is committed to pumping out a great variety of tempos and ideas is ignorant.  Even if you prefer traditional East Coast hardcore (or some other punk rooted variant), this is far from the bottom of the barrel, and you could do much, much worse walking into Hot Topic than Deep Blue.  That being said, Parkway Drive still has a ways to go before they completely break free of some of the more generic conventions of hardcore.  They’re still very much defined by the movement they’ve been a part of since their birth, and their next step will be to make something that is truly their own.  Until then,Deep Blue is probably their best work to date, but let’s not confuse personal standards with those of an entire genre.

So there you have it, my discourse-based understanding of Parkway Drive’s Deep Blue.  Was it necessary?  Probably not, but somebody had to address the elephant in the room, so before you ready your flames and rotten fruits, just know that in good conscious, I couldn’t have written this review any other way.