Parkway Drive's "Vice Grip" Doesn't Hold Weight

Hello Cookie Monster. What unintelligible vocals you have. Even worse, you're not saying anything revolutionary. Parkway Drive fans the metalcore flame for everyone to hear via "Vice Grip". What's troubling is how relentlessly hot it burns and with very little fanfare. How many times do we have to hear the one life one shot at glory cliche before we go bald from having ripped the hair out of our heads? If Winston McCall buried his voice any lower we'd be shoveling for weeks. So...tired theme buried under overemphasized metalcore. Not a recipe for long term success. Jeff Ling's an able guitarist but the sizzle doesn't exist. The bridge fails to impress. This whole effort smacks of paint by numbers going through the motions. Ben "Gaz" Gordon hammers away on drums as if he's bearing a statement never before heard in human history. He's a nice distraction. We shouldn't need a distraction though. Parkview Drive should whet our appetites to where we're not left claiming the appetizer will suffice. Jia "Pie" O'Connor isn't too shabby as bassists go but he can't carry "Vice Grip" on his shoulders. Why does the video merit a higher wow factor than the track. I mean...take a look at the video. It's not hard to look at. The guys radiate vim. Plenty of blue skies to go gaga for. This screams juggernaut. Winston presents one example of getting out there and taking chances. Try jumping from a plane on for size, guys. You see? That's bonafide pluck from a band that apparently knows how to strut its stuff if prodded in the right direction. I believe faulting metalcore for living and dying off dirty vocals is like faulting grass for being green or Donald Trump for not knowing how to keep his foot out of his mouth...there's no logical justification for it. Can't be helped. "Vice Grip" does conduct itself with bravado. Not a slow song by any stretch. Tempo and gusto don't appear to match to the detriment of this effort. I tend to appreciate metalcore acts that give us double bang for the buck with one clean and one dirty vocalist. Not that I think Vice Grip owes us a style shift. I do insist this band needs to at least take a swing at being conceptually unique. "Vice Grip" won't score so much as a marginal sleeper hold with the content they're giving at present. Too lean and mean. Meat on the bones would serve Parkway Drive well.