On their Facebook page, this Sydney heavy act describe themselves as ‘stadium hardcore’. They’ve kind of coined a new term/genre description, and summed themselves up to a tee in one fell swoop.
On the surface, these guys appear to be a straight up and down metalcore act. They have the soaring choruses, the polished production, the designer tats – but there is a little more to them that that. They inject that slightly gnarlier touch of hardcore into their sound, while the aforementioned melodic choruses provide the ‘stadium’ aspect of that equation.
It works a real treat. That is to say, they write songs that will appeal strongly to people who love metal, and metalcore, as well as punk and hardcore, albeit probably young, fairly undemanding fans of said sub-genres (translation: the kids love it). But hey, if you hit upon a winning formula, stick with it! It’s absolutely worked for Parkway Drive for a decade.
At the end of the day, whilst bands like Buried In Verona and Parkway Drive certainly attract their narrow-minded haters who want to stick the boot in at every possible opportunity on internet forums and the like, they are good, professional, hard working Aussie heavy music bands who put out high quality product and put on rip roaring live shows. And that should only be respected and celebrated, not knocked, whether they conform precisely to your personal tastes or not.
BY ROD WHITFIELD
Best Track: The Descent
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: PARKWAY DRIVE, THE AMITY AFFLICTION, DREAM ON DREAMER
In A Word: Appealing
