- Country: Australia
- Style: Heavy metal / Metalcore
- Label: Epitaph / Resist
- Release date: 9 September 2022
Darker Still is Parkway Drive’s seventh album, and it finishes the turn the Byron Bay crew started a few records back. The breakdown-heavy metalcore of their early years is mostly gone. What’s left is big, slow-burning heavy metal built for arenas, with Winston McCall singing more than he screams and the guitars leaning on melody and solos.
When it works, it really works. “Glitch” is tight and nasty, “The Greatest Fear” has the riff of the record, and the title track opens with whistling and acoustic guitar before swelling into something almost cinematic. It’s the boldest thing they’ve done.
The problem is consistency. A few songs on the back half lean so hard on stadium-sized choruses that the band’s old bite gets sanded down, and McCall’s clean delivery isn’t always strong enough to carry the slower moments. Fans who left after Deep Blue won’t be won back. Still, it went straight to No. 1 in Australia, and at its best it sounds like a band that knows exactly where it wants to go.
Best tracks:
Glitch
The Greatest Fear
Darker Still
Imperial Heretic
Author’s rating: 7.6/10
Gave it 5 stars
No member has given this album 5 stars yet. Join WeMetalheads and rate it.
