Parkway Drive

Australian titans and metal's most ambitious band, Parkway Drive, have released their highly anticipated fifth album, Ire. Parkway Drive has spent the past decade at the forefront of heavy music worldwide, and yet Ire is the sound of a band that continues to push their own limits. This is the kind of band that can sell-out stadiums and who have reached Metallica, metal god-like status in their home country. But Parkway Drive still welcomes the excitement of setting up a DIY show in Kolkata, India as seen in their world tour documentary Home is for the Heartless (2012). The Australian powerhouse has tapped deep into its reserves of talent and creativity, and have taken their craft as musicians and songwriters to another level. Ire is clearly something brave and new as heard in the band's new found musical depth and urgency in Winston's vocal deliverance. They are a band that will continue to challenge themselves; and in doing so they will again redefine what has been thought possible for a metal band from Australia to achieve.

Atlas is the fourth album by Australian metalcore band Parkway Drive. It was recorded in Los Angeles,California and will be released on 30 October 2012 through Epitaph Records.

Abkco's 2005 compilation The Best of ? & the Mysterians: Cameo Parkway 1966-1967 is the first official CD release of the Michigan garage rocker's classic Cameo Parkway recordings, but for hardcore garage rock collectors, it might look a little bit similar to a 1995 unofficial release called Original Recordings. The discs not only share 25 tracks but they're presented in the same sequencing. Then again, that shouldn't be a surprise since both discs contain the entirety of the quintet's two full-length LPs – the 1966 96 Tears and its 1967 follow-up Action – plus the "Do Something to Me"/"Love Me Baby (Cherry July)" single. The '95 release contains five tracks that didn't make it to this release, but this has two previously unreleased versions of "Midnight Hour" and "96 Tears," neither of which were as a good as the released versions (the alternate "96 Tears" is surprisingly limp, actually).

There's no denying that Fountains of Wayne know how to craft a great pop record. They know how to write a hook, they can pull of mild rockers and sweet ballads with equal aplomb, and they write melodies that feel like half-forgotten favorites. They have all the elements of a classic power pop band but they suffer from that peculiar '90s ailment – detachment. For all their flair, talent, and craftsmanship, the band don't really dig deeper than the surface. Of course, that doesn't mean they make bad records, and their second album, Utopia Parkway, is, if anything, every bit as good as their fine debut. All the songs immediately make a connection and all of their melodic attributes simply strengthen with repeated listens. However, those repeated listens reveal that Fountains of Wayne don't have a lot to say. That's not a cardinal sin in guitar pop, since most bands simply recycle the same lovelorn themes, but Fountains choose to have fun with clichés, throwing in goofy asides even in their ballads.