Parkway Drive Atlas

Parkway Drive could’ve easily rested on their laurels after 2010's award-winning Deep Blue, a relentless collection of ferocious metalcore riffage and deathcore sludge. However, the Byron Bay group opted to enter more nuanced aggressive territory on their fourth studio album. As they did with Deep Blue, Parkway Drive travelled to Los Angeles to record, although this time around, the band enlisted Matt Hyde to produce and mix. Hyde is no stranger to working with heavy bands; his CV also includes albums by Slayer (God Hates Us All) and Hatebreed (Perseverance). On the dizzying “Snake Oil and Holy Water” and the stinging “Dark Days”, Hyde streamlines Parkway Drive’s frenzied guitar attacks and jackhammering blast beats without blunting the impact of vocalist Winston McCall’s throat-shredding screams. Yet Atlas also derives quiet power from more atmospheric moments—such as the dreamy vocals opening “The River” or the tranquil acoustic guitar prefacing “Sparks”—that amplify the album’s bleak lyrical landscape. The result is a record that pushed Parkway Drive into metalcore’s upper echelons creatively, while its No. 3 peak on the ARIA charts reaffirmed their commercial prowess.