Parkway Drive Albums - The Best Metalcore Band?

Parkway Drive is a metalcore band formed in 2002 in New South Wales, Australia. They currently have three released albums: Killing With A Smile, Horizons, and Deep Blue.

The band's hometown is Byron Bay, described as an idyllic, tranquil paradise of sandy beaches and lush tropical foliage. It is a backpacker's haven and has gained a tourist destination status through the years. It is therefore quite surprising that a metalcore band like the Parkway Drive would emerge from this quiet town.

Their current band line up is: Winston McCall at vocals, Ben Gordon at drums, Jeff Ling with guitar, Jia O'Connor at bass guitar, and Luke Kilpatrick also at guitar.

How The Band Was Formed

The origin of the band's name is pretty much straightforward. When they were formed in 2002, they were practicing in the garage of a house that was located on Parkway Drive.

A few months later, they released what is called a split EP with another band called I Killed The Prom Queen which was based from Adelaide. The EP was aptly titled "I Killed The Prom Queen / Parkway Drive Split CD.

Then in 2005 the band went to the United States to record the first of their Parkway Drive albums, the Killing Me With A Smile which was released in August of 2005 under Epitaph Records. It was produced by Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz.

A year later, Shaun Cash who was playing the bass guitar for the band, decided to leave. He was soon replaced by Jia "Pie" O'Connor who immediately played with them during the band's first international tour in Europe and the rest of the United States.

Killing With A Smile was praised by critics as containing technical musical precision that will appeal to all extreme music fans.

On October 6, 2007 the band's next album, Horizons, was released. It contained their hit single "The Sirens' Song" which they originally played before a crowd at Underworld a few months earlier. They immediately followed the album's release with a tour of the United States, Europe, and Australia.

Horizons debuted at No. 6 in the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Albums Chart on October 14, 2007 and ranked no. 27 in the Top Heatseekers chart.

The latest of the Parkway Drive albums is Deep Blue which was released on June 29, 2010 under Epitaph Records. It was recorded in Los Angeles, California. It was also the longest interval from their last released album which was three years ago. Deep Blue debuted at no. 2 in the ARIA charts and at no. 39 on the Billboard 200 chart.

The band described their latest album as the story of a man who realizes that his life is a lie and he then searches for the truth. In his journey he had to journey to the bottom of the ocean and back again. Deep Blue is the most critically acclaimed of all the Parkway Drive albums and is said to be a continuous weaving of music and lyrics from start to the end.

With their string of album and tour successes, Parkway Drive is surely one of Australia's biggest metalcore bands who have reached beyond the continent. Will they able to get a good grip with the rest of the world? Only time will tell.