Parkway Drive

Metro Theatre

Sydney, Australia

18 January 2018

Let’s delve into physics
and its underpinning laws, shall we?

In a nutshell, the law of
Boyle-Mariotte captures the concept of gas pressure tending to increase
proportionally as the container volume decreases in size.

Aight. Still with me?

A Frenchman going by the
flamboyant name Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac formulated a law describing how gas
pressure and fixed volume rises in direct proportion to the absolute
temperature of the gas. 

In layman’s terms: Shit
becomes explosive.

Where am I going with this
you ask?

Well, both laws applied in
a metaphorical manner to Parkway Drive holding court at Sydney’s Metro Theatre.

If you are situated in the
old world and remotely into the post 2k renaissance of metal core, chances are
that you will probably be familiar with Parkway Drive’s live abilities, which resulted
in them becoming a global player, consequently gained them major slots on main
stages of stadium sized festivals and continues to excite the masses.

Now imagine packing that seasoned
big time band into a medium sized sold out club.

What you get is an
explosive display of polished musicianship, a nearly perfectly calibrated
delivery and a show a tightly run show without lacking spontaneity. The fact that
the band has a naturally good rapport with the audience fuels the relentless
crowd participation.

Celebrating the ten year
anniversary of their second album Horizons,
the show was infused with a focus on Parkway Drive’s DNA of their earlier
incarnations, i.e. in-your-face breakdown glam – an endless array of heavy
parts that trickled down on the more than willing audience not unlike the
condensation water from the ceiling.

What makes the Parkway
Drive live experience special is that despite all the heaviness and what comes
with shows of the genre, it is in essence a whole lot of fun and it is not
rocket science to realize that this outcome is due to the band’s work and
approach, e.g. briefing bouncers to deal with the anticipated avalanche of
stagedivers and other shenanigans the Parkway Drive elicits from their
audience.

There is little doubt that
Parkway Drive is well on its way to become a legacy band and seeing them mix it
up by still playing smaller venues on their home turf seems to indicate that they
have not lost touch with their roots and is always a welcome treat.

Unfortunately I missed the
opener Polaris, a band whose live reputation precedes it and whose debut album
was recently released by Sydney’s Resist Records. I will make sure to catch them
on their upcoming headliner tour in April.