Over a decade ago, many of Parkway Drive’s biggest fans were in a much different place than they are now – instead of being maybe in adulthood, they were about to graduate high school, or even younger than that. That’s something thR certainly applied when the band’s 2007 sophomore album, Horizons, was released.
The other thing to note is that the metalcore and hardcore scenes were much less saturated than they are currently. Much of that is due to social media and overexposure, but we digress – there were some truly innovative bands playing these styles in the MySpace era. Parkway Drive was certainly one of them. Granted, Horizons wasn’t necessarily a world-changing album, but for many longtime fans of the band and also anyone who grew up a fan of metalcore, Horizons really did change the game for bands of those styles coming out of Australia.
Why Horizons succeeded (and still remains a staple of the genre today) is mainly because Parkway Drive focused on creating a quality album, and not just a few singles mixed with some filler. Much like in baseball and other team sports, the “stars and scrubs” approach does not often work too well – with a lineup (or in Parkway’s case, a tracklist) of solid songs and a few standout ones (the title track, “Idols and Anchors”, “Carrion”), it’s fairly clear the band’s first two albums were the catalyst for many a band to form in the wake of Horizons.
Parkway Drive is a cornerstone of Australian music. That is not likely to change ever, and neither will the massive influence that their discography wields even now.
