Beyond ridiculous!!!!
Gnarlo | Denver, CO | 06/29/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"if you thought horizons was sick, this album has cancer, butt-aids, lupus and a congenital heart defect all at once. i'm not going to pick this album apart like the overabundance of aspiring critics that plague this site. listen to the demos, that's what they're there for...then buy it, you will not be repentant. ready your aural cavity for an all out assault!!!
PS - these guys are on warped tour 2010...show up, rock out, hug an emo (they hate it), and leave before andrew w.k. gets a chance to bleed on something"
Perhaps better as a first album
T. Kauger | New Jersey, USA | 07/03/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"It was the summer of 2008 when a friend of mine introduced me to Parkway Drive's phenomenal second album, Horizons. I was immediately taken aback by its one-two combo attack of brutality and clearly technical musicianship. It was, at once, a definitively heavy album, while bringing with it a pervasive musicianship that is rarely seen within the genre many label "metalcore". The album has an epic sense, along with strong lyrics backed by equally impressive instrument work. It truly felt like a story, with a beginning, middle, and end. Parkway Drive scaled the summit of the modern metal scene with these haunting, beautiful melodies and breakdowns that put them in a unique place. I doubt I'll ever come across a closing track as vast and sobering as "Horizons".
"Deep Blue", while having moments of this refreshing musicianship and technicality, seems to stop short of what could have been the next grand chapter in the Parkway Drive storyline. The album does shine in some aspects, however; the lyrics are incredible. Everyone in the band seems to have a definite grasp over their instruments, as tracks "Sleepwalker", "Karma", and "Home is for the Heartless" will inevitably tell the listener.
Unfortunately, nearly every song is riddled with a breakdown. Breakdowns are satisfying and cathartic when used tastefully, but all I could think of was bands like Limp Bizkit after continually hearing the pounding of the bass drums and open-chord, palm-muted growls of the guitar. It just gets a bit boring. Thankfully, there are a few excellent riffs in the album, as noted in the tracks above, but they tend to get lost in the stagnant mixing and same-y sound of the tracks.
I'm a bit disappointed, because Parkway Drive was so able to create a sonic landscape of grand proportion with their previous work. This album is heavy, no doubt about it, but it lacks the very technicality and musicianship that the band is CLEARLY capable of. Certain tracks from Deep Blue will undoubtedly find their way onto my playlists, but overall, it doesn't come close to what Parkway Drive achieved with Horizons. It feels as if this should have been one of their FIRST albums, as the natural progression of their sound would suggest.
In my humble opinion."
Metal As It Should Be
Christian DeNeau | 06/30/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is what metal is all about. Somehow, Parkway was able to step their game up! This album is so full of intensity, you might go blind. The production on this is supreme. The timing they hold in their songs and their songwriting ability is absolutely insane. You won't be disappointed. The re-listen factor on this is also very high! It doesn't seem to get old, I feel like a kid in a candy store everytime I listen to it."
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1