Parkway Drive “Killing With A Smile” | The Forum | Melbourne | 9th August

Live Review

11 Aug

The atmosphere inside The Forum was electric from the moment doors opened. Packed wall-to-wall, the crowd was predominantly composed of Victoria’s diehard heavy music community, a sea of seasoned metalheads and long time fans gathering to relive the soundtrack of their youth. Despite it being a Sunday night with work looming the next morning, the room surrendered entirely to the nostalgia, queuing for merch and launching into pits with absolute disregard for the upcoming workweek.

Ghostseeker kicked things off for the night, with co-vocalists Daniel Breen and Celeste Bojczuk bringing a really cool dual-vocal dynamic to the stage. Their set was super tight, packed with clever riffs and solid drumming that kept everything moving. Both frontpeople felt really calm and natural up there, holding down a great stage presence. They’re still carving out their exact sound, but with the talent and easy energy they showed here, they’ve definitely got plenty of room to blow up if they keep grinding.

Up next were local grindcore legends King Parrot, fresh off massive US arena dates supporting Pantera. Bringing that level of stage experience into a tighter venue like The Forum was wild to watch. In all honesty, grindcore isn't really my vibe as someone who leans heavily into the metalcore scene, so the sheer noise itself didn't totally hit for me. But the energy of the crowd completely pulled me in, cutting right past the music and locking my attention on the room. I still ended up enjoying their set, simply appreciating the craft on display and the dedication from fans who were loving every single second of it.

When the time came for Byron’s biggest export to step out and rip through their debut album front-to-back, the floor instantly turned into pure, beautiful chaos. The second 'Gimme A D' kicked off, the entire Forum erupted into a massive wave of bodies, with everyone losing their minds to songs that have been mapped onto their lives for nearly two decades.

There was no massive production, no theatrical pyro, and no oversized stadium gimmicks, just Parkway Drive, and a venue crammed with people who grew up on this sound.

Hearing one of Australian metalcore’s holy grails played front-to-back was an incredible dose of nostalgia, pulling me straight back to my younger years. You could tell the rest of the crowd felt it too, with bodies piling over each other for the entire set. That raw, early energy is lightyears away from where Parkway sits today, making the jump to modern anthems like 'Prey' and 'Vice Grip' pretty striking. But dropping classics like 'Sleepwalker' and 'Carrion' anchored the set back in their heavy roots and kept the floor moving.

By the time they wrapped up the encore with 'Bottom Feeder' and 'Wild Eyes', you could look around the Forum and see total satisfaction on everyone's faces. Decades later, the impact of that debut album is still undeniable: it’s alive, hitting as hard as ever, and proving why it shaped an entire generation.