Atlas (Parkway Drive album)

Atlas
Studio album by Parkway Drive
Released 26 October 2012
Recorded Summer 2012 in Los Angeles
Genre Metalcore[1]
Length 48:06
Label Resist, Epitaph
Producer Matt Hyde
Parkway Drive chronology

Deep Blue
(2010)		 Atlas
(2012)
Singles from Atlas
  1. "Dark Days"
    Released: 9 September 2012
  2. "Wild Eyes"
    Released: 13 May 2013

Atlas is the fourth album by Australian metalcore band Parkway Drive. It was recorded in Los Angeles, California and was released on 26 October 2012[2] through Epitaph Records. On 9 September 2012,[3] Parkway Drive released the album's first single, "Dark Days" along with a music video.[4] On 17 September 2012,[5] Parkway Drive released a 10 second teaser of "Old Ghost / New Regrets" in an interview with Winston McCall on the ABC radio program, The Doctor. On 16 October, "Old Ghost / New Regrets" was released by Parkway Drive through the Epitaph Records YouTube channel. On 23 October, the full album became available to stream on the Epitaph Records YouTube channel.

The band first started touring in support of the album in Europe between 13 November 2012 and 1 December 2012 with opening bands Emmure, The Word Alive and Structures. On 13 December they embarked on their second album release tour, to New Zealand and Australia. Atlas debuted at No. 3 on the Australian ARIA albums chart and achieved an ARIA Gold certification for 35,000 shipments in January 2013.[6] In the US it charted at No. 32 on the Billboard 200. The record received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its depth and sound.

Reception

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 73/100 [7]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
AbsolutePunk [8]
PopMatters (7/10) [9]
Kerrang! [10]
Ultimate Guitar [11]

Atlas received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 73, based on 6 reviews.[7] Fred Thomas from Allmusic commented on the album's use of instruments not generally used in metalcore, saying "The album's depth and openness to straying away from typical devices of the genre make Atlas one of the more engaging and thought-provoking metalcore releases amid a sea of the interchangeable riffs and howls of other bands."[1]

Accolades

At the end of the year the album was featured on a few end of year lists. It reached 25 of 101 in Kerrang!.[12]

Track listing

No. Title Length
1. "Sparks"   2:18
2. "Old Ghosts / New Regrets"   2:50
3. "Dream Run"   4:09
4. "Wild Eyes"   4:19
5. "Dark Days"   4:05
6. "The River"   5:27
7. "Swing"   3:32
8. "The Slow Surrender"   4:14
9. "Atlas"   4:09
10. "Sleight of Hand"   4:27
11. "Snake Oil and Holy Water"   2:49
12. "Blue and the Grey"   5:47
Total length:
 48:06

Personnel

Parkway Drive
Production
  • NASA – album cover
  • Alex Ormerod, Bec Kilpatrick – booklet photos
  • Callum Preston – art direction, layout
Additional musicians
  • Bruce Mann – trumpet on "Blue and the Grey"
  • Daniel "The Duke" Alexander – piano on "Atlas"
  • Mariah Green – cello on "Sparks" and "Atlas"
  • Alison Belle – violin on "Sparks" and "Atlas"
  • DJ Snagtoof – turntables on "The Slow Surrender"
  • Tim McAfee Lewis, Skip Jennings, Arnae Baston and Reirani Taurima – vocals on "Sparks", "The River", "Atlas" and "Blue and the Grey"

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2012) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[13] 3
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[14] 33
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[15] 74
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[16] 162
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[17] 22
New Zealand Albums (Recorded Music NZ)[18] 12
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[19] 57
UK Albums (OCC)[20] 48
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[21] 11
US Billboard 200[22] 32
US Digital Albums (Billboard)[23] 24
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[24] 5
US Top Hard Rock Albums (Billboard)[25] 3
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[26] 8
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[27] 17

Year-end charts

Chart (2012) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[28] 83

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[29] Gold 35,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Atlas Parkway Drive Allmusic.com, Fred Thomas
  2. ↑ "Release Date".
  3. ↑ "Listen: Parkway Drive Release New Track Dark Days".
  4. ↑ "Dark Days music video".
  5. ↑ "Parkway Drive | media | triple j". Abc.net.au. 2012-09-17. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
  6. ↑ Parkway Drive Hit Gold Status With ‘Atlas’ Musicfeeds.com.au. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Atlas (Parkway Drive album) at Metacritic Retrieved 2013-04-08.
  8. ↑ Drew Beringer (2 November 2012). "Parkway Drive - Atlas - Album Review - AbsolutePunk". absolutepunk.net. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  9. ↑ Colgan, Chris (2013-01-24). "Parkway Drive: Atlas". PopMatters. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
  10. ↑ Tom Aylott (27 October 2012). James McMahon, ed. "Modern metal's most explosive act raise the bar again with fourth album". Kerrang! (London: Bauer Media Group) (1438): 52. ISSN 0262-6624.
  11. ↑ Staff, ed. (27 October 2012). "Atlas review". Ultimate Guitar (1438). Ultimate Guitar. p. 52. ISSN 0262-6624.
  12. ↑ Tom Aylott (15 December 2012). James McMahon, ed. "2012: The ultimate rock review". Kerrang! (London: Bauer Media Group) (1445): 26. ISSN 0262-6624.
  13. ↑ "Parkway Drive – Atlas". Australiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  14. ↑ "Parkway Drive – Atlas" (in German). Austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  15. ↑ "Parkway Drive – Atlas" (in Dutch). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  16. ↑ "Parkway Drive – Atlas" (in French). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  17. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  18. ↑ "Parkway Drive – Atlas". Charts.org.nz. Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  19. ↑ "Parkway Drive – Atlas". Swisscharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  20. ↑ "Parkway Drive | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  21. ↑ "2012-11-10 Top 40 Independent Albums Archive | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  22. ↑ "Parkway Drive Album & Song Chart History" Billboard 200 for Parkway Drive. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  23. ↑ "Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Digital Albums for Parkway Drive. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  24. ↑ "Parkway Drive Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Independent Albums for Parkway Drive. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  25. ↑ "Parkway Drive Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums for Parkway Drive. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  26. ↑ "Parkway Drive Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Top Rock Albums for Parkway Drive. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  27. ↑ "Parkway Drive Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Top Tastemaker Albums for Parkway Drive. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  28. ↑ "ARIA Top 100 Albums 2012". ARIA. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  29. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2013 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association.