Parkway Drive
Australia’s masters of metal-core Parkway Drive are set to cement their reputation as one of the most dominant exponents of heavy hardcore on the planet with their spellbinding third album, Deep Blue, which is ready for release on June 28 via Epitaph Records.
The hotly anticipated follow-up to 2007’s Horizons, Deep Blue raises the bar in every conceivable way. While maintaining the band’s uncompromising metallic-hardcore style at its core, it pushes into exciting new realms, drawing from a wider scope of influence, incorporating everything from anthemic pop-punk to bloodcurdling death metal.
With improved musical abilities and a thoroughly inspired approach to songwriting, Parkway Drive has tied the music and lyrics together into one all-encompassing concept.
“It’s basically about the search for truth in a world that seems to be devoid of that,” says vocalist and lyricist Winston McCall, explaining the narrative running through Deep Blue. “The story is told through the eyes of a man who wakes up and realizes that his life is a lie and nothing he believes in is real. So he tries to find the truth within himself and his journey takes him to the bottom of the ocean and back again.”
Having recorded their first two albums with Adam Dutkiewicz of Killswitch Engage, Deep Blue was tracked and mixed in Los Angeles, CA by Joe Barresi (Queens Of The Stone Age, Bad Religion, Tool), and mastered by legendary mastering engineer Brian Gardner. Crisp, unprocessed and impossibly heavy, the production on Deep Blue brings out every nuance of Parkway Drive‘s freshly re-focused sound.
“It’s definitely the Parkway record I’m most proud of,” claims Winston. “We felt like were in the deep-end recording with someone new, so to have it come out exactly how we wanted it, and pretty much exceed our expectations, is a big ask, but that’s exactly what Joe did for us.”
With 13 tracks in all, standouts include “Sleepwalker,” “Deliver Me” and “Unrest.” Bad Religion guitarist and Epitaph Records owner Brett Gurewitz makes a guest vocal appearance on “Home is for the Heartless,” which brings epic punk rock choruses and crazed metallic finger-tapping guitar work into the established Parkway paradigm.
“We figure that song is going to be the most polarizing thing we’ve ever written,” Winston says. “People are either going to like it or they are going to hate it. I think it worked. That’s one of my favorite songs on the record!”
Already one of the most anticipated heavy releases of the year, Deep Blue represents an exciting new chapter in the story of Australia’s most successful hardcore band.
Official Deep Blue Track Listing:
1. Samsara
2. Unrest
3. Sleepwalker
4. Wreckage
5. Deadweight
6. Alone
7. Pressures
8. Deliver Me
9. Karma
10. Home Is For The Heartless
11. Hollow
12. Leviathan I
13. Set To Destroy