HYLI Vol. XLIII - Parkway Drive and Frightened Rabbit
Patrick sends Andy some seminal '00s Scottish indie-rock and Andy sends Patrick more metalcore. He's so predictable.
What is up, gang? Vote today? I live in North Carolina, where the outcome is pretty predictable ahead of it happening, but it still seems like something You Should Do. Love to just wallow in the piss and shit that is this country. Anything else going on? I saw the motion picture The Bashees of Inisherin and boy, did it rock me. My wife said walking out of the theater on the way back to the car that the dynamic between Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in that film reminded her of me and Andy. Which do you think is which? I really don’t want to know the answer but I think I know the answer. See it! Music continues to be good. I am crossing off the last few 2022 albums that remained on my docket and probably will spend a few weeks compiling the dreaded/fun end-of-the-year list material. Hope you have a good week and Hope You Like It.
Parkway Drive - Horizons
Andy: It has been a fun last few weeks getting Pat hyped up on some good mid-00s Adam D-produced Metalcore. It is a shame I had to go and ruin it by giving him Parkway Drive’s 2007 album Horizons, a record he is sure to hate (Patrick: don’t spoil the surprise). It’s on me, I know that. I can live with it.
I love this album. I don’t think it is quite as good as Killswitch Engage’s efforts or last week’s Fall of Ideals from All That Remains, but it’s fun as heck. I have some special memories of bonding with my brother and now-wife over this record. I broke my toe in the pit at Bamboozle during “Boneyards” (real ones will know exactly when) and it was worth it (Patrick: I just want everyone to know there was an insane amount of typos from you this sentence, clean it up). I saw them play a bunch of songs from this record at the O2 Academy in London in 2011 with Bring Me The Horizon, Architects, and The Devil Wears Prada (basically a super-tour for that genre at the time).
Unlike the last two weeks, we don’t get the combo sing-scream from vocalist Winston McCall. Instead, we get more generic, but top-of-the-genre, screams. Riffs aren’t as good as recent albums we’ve highlighted but still go hard. “Carrion” might be an all-time metalcore Rushmore song. “Boneyards” goes man. You can really hear Adam D’s influence on “Idols and Anchors.”
Like I said, I love this album. I don’t particularly like any of Parkway Drive’s efforts outside of this and 2006’s Killing With A Smile (GOAT metalcore year, I’ll say it again). The following releases get a bit too boring for me. Regardless, this is an all-timer of an album. I think a lot of fans miss this era of Parkway (and metalcore) as a whole.
Hope You Like It.
Patrick: This sucked. No bit here. This isn’t the intro paragraph pretend you hate the album thing where you start gushing after your hilarious joke. I didn’t have a good time. I guess it isn’t outright bad so much as it was downright boring. There are some riffs. They played guitar on this album. I can say that for certain. The screamer screamed. His voice is present on this record. There might have been a drummer on this but it honestly might have been a robot, I cannot say (Andy: you hate when people play fast so much) (Patrick: correction, I hate when drums sound fake so much). Did any of these things move me in the slightest? Reader, they did not.
Normally on the albums where I dislike them, I try to highlight a song or two that stood out to put some kindness in the shit sandwich. The closer title track was okay? I guess? Ultimately, I want to use this space to ask Andy why he sent me an album that he knew I would dislike. We were going along so swell. Two back-to-back A+ or actually kind of B+ but Very Good metalcore albums and then he sends me one that he both a) says isn’t as good as those (fair, the other two are very good) and b) presumes going in that I will dislike it (unfair, why are you so dumb?) (Andy: Was I wrong?). Am I out here every week sending Andy some Sturgill Simpson or Bob Dylan or Nick Drake records? No. I am not. God dammit. (Andy: My guy. It is truly impossible to figure out what you’d like and dislike. I try my best and sometimes I take a wild shot, 2 of 3 is a pretty good average. You’re okay.)
There was a riff on “Five Months” that was cool, I guess. I know this because it was the only song on Spotify from this album that had a green heart next to it. One track out of 12. One green heart out of a dozen (Andy: Ah yes, the almighty Spotify green heart). Congrats to the riff. Better luck next time to my ears. Get shit on to Andy. I Didn’t Like It Like You Knew I Wouldn’t Be a Better Newsletter Co-Host.
Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
Patrick: Despite that little outburst and the existential dread of the intro, I’m actually in a pretty good mood this week (Andy: wow imagine). My wife is about halfway through being pregnant. The leaves are changing. The heat is (slowly) giving way to sweater weather. This might sound odd, given the circumstances of singer Scott Hutchison’s life and the ending of it, but listening to Frightened Rabbit makes me Happy. They’re a band I love with a style of music that hits me right in my Q zone. Kinda melancholy but upbeat indie rock with an accent. Let’s fucking go.
Speaking of fucking, man this dude loved to write songs about Fucking. “Fast Blood?” Gee, I wonder what he could be referring to there. As horny as this song seems, the Genius annotations for this song appear to be written by the embarrassing people that were writing smut fanfic tweets about Beto O’Rourke (Andy: …hm?). Get a life. “The Twist?” Not subtle and nor does it need to be! I could keep going. He wrote in a very everyman, This is the Human Experience kind of way and I love it. I’ve never been to Scotland but for some reason, I’m quite drawn to a number of Scottish indie songwriters, as they tend to write in a more confessional/less heavily metaphorical, “real world” kind of way. Very identifiable feelings and empathetic lyrics that you don’t really get from tons of American indie rock this side of Death Cab going full Boring over a decade ago (Andy: you can say that again).
I absolutely fucking whole-heartedly LOVE “Poke.” What a fucking song. Maybe a top song? How on earth did this dude write this? I miss his writing and I miss his music. Damn. Band rips. Hope You Like It Don’t Tell Me If You Don’t.
Andy: Patrick is out here whining like a little punk about how he doesn’t like every album I send him but still happily gives me an “indie folk” record every week. A genre I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemies. That isn’t true but I don’t enjoy it and I need to get my shots in also (Patrick: this isn’t folk in the slightest lol).
It is all fine. I don’t love it. I’m not even sure I’d say I like it. I don’t hate it either. It just exists. A few good moments, sure, but there's just so much undistinctive “filler” that doesn’t grab me in the slightest (Patrick: I’ll quit complaining about me not liking double-kick drums that aren’t discernibly different or interesting over the course of 40-minute albums if you quit complaining about this, we both sound dumb). I think I can appreciate the album for what it is and what it’s trying to be while recognizing that it takes something special (not necessarily good or better than normal) for me to attach to it. It is definitely a shortcoming of mine but I’m constantly giving these types of albums a shot hoping for something to *click* but it never seems to happen.
Patrick is right when he says “Poke” is the best song. It is the best song because my friend loves it and I love him and I’m happy the song makes him happy. Where do we go from here Patrick (Patrick: per The Banshees of Inisherin, nowhere good)? I Thought It Was Music.