It’s the age-old debate that has probably led to more physical altercations than any other: should [insert band name] continue churning out similar-sounding material, or are they better off taking risks and testing the waters? Oftentimes, at least in personal encounters, the consensus seems to be: that if a band changes anything about their sound, it’s to their detriment and immediately alienates a specific pocket of fans.
Parkway Drive was formed in 2003. Before Facebook, Youtube, the iPhone, and TikTok. Oh, how marvelous times once were. Frontman Winston McCall wasn’t even old enough to legally drink in the U.S. (though could in his native Australia) yet celebrated his 40th birthday in the week prior to Darker Still (Epitaph Records) dropping. So, it’s asinine to think the metalcore mastodons would rigidly keep to their script for almost 20 years. This author would hazard to guess your musical proclivities have changed a little in the last two decades.
Gaining prominence and popularity in part due to bruising breakdowns and vitriolic screaming, PWD have increasingly shifted to a more approachable hard-rock style that tends to delve into “rapcore” verses and arena-sized hooks. In essence: music that retains its edge while also sounding tailor-made for larger audiences.
Their seventh full-length is no different, and it stands to reason. Gone are the days Parkway Drive are performing in a dive bar on a random Tuesday night. The quartet are veterans that have transcended the early-2000’s idea of metalcore and have burst into the semi-mainstream.
The same titans who bequeathed the world with the blessings of ‘Wild Eyes,’ ‘Destroyer’ and ‘Swing’, in 2022 instead pen tracks like ‘Glitch,’ a song of punchy drums and anthemic choruses. ‘Darker Still’ is acoustic, progressive and power ballad-esque. There is even a lullaby melody succeeded by McCall softly singing in addition to gruff spoken-word sections straight out of The Undertaker’s promo repertoire. For the fans of the tried and true, though, ‘Soul Bleach’ is a rib-cage-shattering escapade from the moment McCall wails “POISON! / POISON!”.
And despite the obvious foundational shift in what Parkway Drive is aspiring to achieve, they haven’t entirely turned over a new leaf, which is to say the chanting sections are here to stay (‘Ground Zero,’ Imperial Heretic’).
Four years removed from the highly divisive Ire and its shift to approachable music, Darker Still very well might also add to the rift deep within the Parkway Drive fandom. But that’s precisely the point. The band is still being talked about almost twenty years after their debut, and not because they’re the stale, same old song and dance.
The Aussies have matured as individuals and musicians, and have done so without losing the edge and intensity that garnered our attention in the first place.
Buy the album here: https://parkwaydrive.ffm.to/darkerstill
8 / 10
MATT COOK