PARALLAX-Mediums & messages, Widely unknown indeed! and comp tracks
(Sorry for the ridiculous length of this, but it’s impossible to just casually write about this band)
This is going to be an extremely difficult post for me to write…I hope I can articulate myself in a way that pays tribute to one of the most important, and underrated bands I have ever come across, and to Blake Donner, their vocalist who tragically passed away along with some of his friends in a caving accident. http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=95690
Parallax was a band from Provo, Utah that played a style of technical, chaotic, and melodic metalcore that like Shai hulud, represented the perfect fusion of the two genres. But no matter how perfect their music was, what made this band stand out was the quality of their lyrical content. Blake Donner wrote socially conscious lyrics that acknowledged the importance of having a message relevant to the people you play to, challenging the conventions of religion in their predominantly Mormon state, the role of the male in a sexist society that still struggles with the belief of men being superior to women, and about defining the terms of your own life and not wasting it.
Part of the tragedy of Blake’s passing is that the world lost one of the musicians in the minority that truly had something of intellectual value to say, and encouraged/inspired those who listed to Parallax to address these issues within the context of their own personal lives. I have never met a casual fan of Parallax; anyone who has come across their sole LP “Mediums & messages” has been affected by the raw sincerity and passion of their music and their words. If Blake hadn’t been taken from the world so early, I have no doubt these guys would have been giants of their subgenre, right on par with Shai hulud and Misery signals.
I don’t mean to knock on bands like For the fallen dreams or The Ghost inside (who are very competent at their brand of mosh-heavy melodic metalcore), but this is the perfect example of how this genre should sound to me; zero focus placed on the individual parts and the way they make the crowd respond, but on the songs as a whole, which is why I feel this band had so much more impact on me as opposed to most of their peers.
Blake passed before their record was finished, never hearing the final product of his hard work. The legendary Greg Bennick from Trial appeared on the album on the spoken word track “Surgery without sutures.” I felt like a train hit me when I first heard this song, it articulated the many frustrations I’ve felt as a young adult trying to make something of my life in way I had never been able to properly convey into words. Here are the lyrics and explanation from the cd booklet:
The impact of this song, and the others they wrote is impossible to explain to anyone without having heard Parallax themselves. Their discography is extremely difficult to find, and I only have the demo, full length and comp tracks. you can download them all here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?5o6qn8ry6eq9f
Lyrics from Mediums and messages (a must to enjoy them fully)
http://www.loudson.gs/p/parallax/mediums-messages
I know they did a 7” called “On dead tracks” and recorded 3 songs before they broke up that are on their myspace, but not up for download. If anyone has anything that isn’t here, PLEASE send it my way, I wouldn’t be able to tell you how grateful I, and some of my friends would be. I sincerely hope anyone who checks this band out enjoys them half as much as the many people I know who love Parallax.
