Parkway Drive: Killing With a Smile

Cookie cutter metalcore is so rampant, it was only inevitable that a country like Australia become infested, as I Killed the Prom Queen and Parkway Drive arrive from Oz with a modest amount of hype. The trouble is, we’ve heard this stuff so much, who the hell cares? In the case of Parkway Drive, it’s just more of the same melodic death metal riffs, more of the same one-note breakdowns, more of the same tone-deaf screaming, more of the same ubiquitous Adam Dutkiewicz production… just more of the same. It’s tight, and the dual guitar harmonies of Luke Kilpatrick and Jeff Ling are admirable, but there’s absolutely nothing here that differentiates this band from every other young American metalcore band polluting the OzzFest second stage. Sure, this will entertain rebellious 12-year-old children who have never heard At the Gates or even As I Lay flippin’ Dying, but for the rest of us who have to put up with the dozens and dozens of new metalcore bands that are completely devoid of an original idea, it’s a complete waste of time. Enough, already.