Artist: Parkway Drive
Title: Viva The Underdogs
Genre: Metal
Release Date: 27th March 2020
Label: Epitaph Records
Album Review
PARKWAY DRIVE could not have chosen a better time for a live album. Since everybody - normally - sits at home and mourns the postponed and cancelled concerts, you can now enjoy ‘Viva The Underdogs’ of the Australians to get at least a little bit of the concert and festival feeling. On this record the guys let their performance as headliner at the 30th Wacken Open Air pass in review. This performance crowns their career and proves that even Metal can’t escape the generation change. And for those who still haven’t had enough after listening to it, you can watch the documentary of the same name once on April 4th here: youtu.be/tNyO1s-7AZU
‘Viva The Underdogs’ could be seen as a best-of album. The reason for this is that the Australians don’t reproduce the complete concert setlist and leave out single tracks and even put three newly recorded studio versions on it as a bonus. But the live versions of the tracks convince all along the line. The audience is the centre of attention here. This is especially audible in ‘Wild Eyes’, as thousands of Wackinger bawl Jeff Ling’s guitar melody into your living room. Also, fronter Winston McCall gives you the feeling to be in the middle of the crowd. He varies his parts, communicates a lot with his fans and also a “Holy Shit” slips out of his mouth often. The guitars cut sharply out of the mix, the drums bang and the fact that bassist Jia O’Connor was sitting in a wheelchair with knee problems at this important gig of all times which is fortunately not noticeable in the sound.
The albums ‘Ire’ and ‘Reverence’ seem to be in the centre of attention here, as they are represented by four songs each, while the albums ‘Horizons’, ‘Deep Blue’ and ‘Atlas’ together come up to this number. But this doesn’t bother, because this selection extends the tension very well. After saying goodbye to Wacken with ‘Bottom Feeder’, the band has a little present for the (German) fans: Together with translator CASPER, PARKWAY DRIVE worked on German versions of their songs ‘Vice Grip’, ‘The Void’ and ‘Shadow Boxing’. In ‘Shadow Boxing’ aka ‘Schattenboxen’ CASPER himself is allowed to do it. He replaces McCall’s spoken-vocal verses with fresh rap parts. You can do that, especially because McCall switches between the English original and punctual interjections in German and the result sounds more thoughtful and mature.
Often live albums of bands are released as fill-in between two studio albums, but you don’t get that feeling with PARKWAY DRIVE. With the documentary, ‘Viva The Underdogs’ has also been given an interesting double life. The album is suitable for newcomers but also for fans of the first hour. Newcomers will not only get to know the central and well-known songs and get an impression of how the guys shoot off their energy live. Fans on the other hand are looking forward to the cool atmosphere the CD reflects and to the bonus tracks. So, you can say, there is something for everyone.
Tracklist
01. Prey
02. Carrion
03. Karma
04. The Void
05. Idols And Anchors
06. Dedicated
07. Absolute Power
08. Wild Eyes
09. Chronos
10. Crushed
11. Bottom Feeder
12. Würgegriff
13. Die Leere
14. Schattenboxen
Line-up
Winston McCall – Vocals
Jeff Ling – Lead guitar
Luke Kilpatrick – Rhythm guitar
Jia O'Connor – Bass
Ben Gordon – Drums
Website
https://parkwaydriverock.com
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 9
Total: 9 / 10
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