Horizons

Aside from the Bee Gees or Kylie Minogue, you rarely hear much about popular Australian musical exports, and even less about Australian metal. It should come as no surprise that a country rife with deadly beauty and harsh deserts features some killer metal, and the deceptively named Parkway Drive certainly fit the bill. Armed with racing licks and amped-up drums, the songs on HORIZONS thrash and grind with conviction. Burned-black vocals from Winston McCall rasp along like gravel under hot tires, and the band mixes things up by shifting into the tar-pit blues of Pantera whenever the tempos slow. This is heavy stuff, perfect for driving down a desolate highway in the blinding sun.