Search - Parkway Drive :: Killing With a Smile

Garbage

Blaise D. Canfield | Annapolis, MD | 05/22/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Formulaic at best, the al-bomb fails to produce even a single independent thought. Copy-and-pasted from better bands like As I Lay Dying with all the good bits removed, Parkway Drive seem to be putting the pedal to the metal, but their car is in neutral. I can't figure out why they call this 'technical' music. Maybe it's because they are 'technically' playing their instruments, but that's a real stretch.

So enough insults, what's my beef?



-Every song is in the same key and has the same pattern.



-Only one song is in a different TEMPO. I mean, hey, maybe that's the sign of a good drummer. He has the ability to keep tempo for an ENTIRE ALBUM. But seriously, when you can skip to almost any song and keep your head going at the same pace, something's wrong.



-The guitar 'melodies' all sound the same. TRY something new! I'm not asking for Psyopus' "Odd Senses" or anything, because I don't believe anyone in the world could do that except Chris Arp. I am merely asking for the band to put themselves into the music. We're all a LITTLE different, and if they only let that come out in the songs, there could be some really cool stuff here.



-Breakdowns should not be 9 sixteenth-notes followed by rests for the rest of the measure. That's not a breakdown. That's a rhythm. And a trite one at that.



So, overall: Fail. Rock may not be for you. Why not try a career in perfect spelling?"