Parkway Drive released their feature documentary HOME in cinemas this week, capturing the metalcore band’s transition from the heavy underground to the big screen.
Directed by Allan Hardy and Macario De Souza, the film follows the Australian group’s two-decade history and culminates in a one-off performance at the Sydney Opera House.
The group performed a sold-out, black-tie concert at the venue in June 2025 accompanied by a full symphony orchestra, according to Billboard reporting. The self-funded production sold out within three minutes of release, presenting a logistical challenge for a heavy metal act inside a world-famous arts center.
Formed in the coastal New South Wales town of Byron Bay in 2003, Parkway Drive issued their debut album two years later, eventually building a run of charting records. Their 2007 release Horizons reached the top 10 in Australia, while 2015’s Ire climbed to No. 29 on the Billboard 200 and topped the Hard Rock Albums chart, Billboard reported.
Directors Hardy and De Souza approached the band with the unexpected opportunity to secure a single available date at the Sydney Opera House. The show required the members to prepare a symphonic collaboration on short notice during their 20th-anniversary touring schedule.
“We got to rehearse once with the orchestra, and that was four hours before we played,” Winston McCall told Billboard. “So we did a one full dress rehearsal, four hours before the set, went and had dinner and played it again, and then it was done.”
The documentary captures dramatic moments from the production, including McCall abseiling 150 feet from a helicopter onto a two-foot-wide platform on the venue’s sails before taking the stage. The film premiered at Sydney’s State Theatre on November 10 ahead of its broader theatrical rollout in cities including Los Angeles, New York, London, and Berlin.
“Playing the Opera House and everything around this movie has literally been the pinnacle of this man’s career,” McCall told Billboard. “There’s nothing that is ordinary in any way, shape, or form, that will ever be able to be repeated as well, and that can recapture the moment and the work that went into doing what we were doing.”
Alongside the cinematic release distributed by Mushroom Studios, a companion live album titled HOME – Live at the Sydney Opera House will drop on vinyl, CD, and digital formats on December 4 through Parkway Records and Civilians. McCall said that the audio captures one of the strongest live recordings of the band.
Following the film’s rollout, Parkway Drive plans to return to the road for international festival appearances next year, with confirmed slots at Hellbound II in Australia, Rock For People in the Czech Republic, Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park in Germany, Sweden Rock, and the Greenfield Festival in Switzerland. Meanwhile, the band is also working on material following their 2022 studio album Darker Still.
“There’s stuff,” McCall told Billboard regarding new music. “I mean, we’re brewing things.”
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