Aussie metalcore titans Parkway Drive have released another single from imminent new studio album Darker Still - its brooding and epic title track. Starting with a solemn strumming of acoustic guitar and echoey whistling, the song soon welcomes swells of orchestral strings before lurching into a mid-paced, atmospheric stomp, punctuated by some particularly bleak lyrics from frontman Winston McCall.
'I'm swimming strong but won't survive,' croons the singer. 'The dark, the blue, I cannot fight. Until I die, until I die.'
It's a melancholic and relatively restrained brand of Parkway song for the most part - that is, until it bursts into full-on power ballad territory for its rousing, emotional finale. If the band's recent statements are anything to go by, Darker Still is another surefire sign that Parkway are going into darker (pun very much intended) territories than ever before for album number seven, which is the band's first studio release since 2018's critically acclaimed Reverence.
"It's very much carrying on from Reverence, but it's more," says McCall of the new record in an exclusive interview in the new issue of Metal Hammer. "It's saying, 'Things like like they're really bad, and do you know what? They are. But they're just going to get worse and worse and worse.' We felt like it was the end of the world, and so we made an album that sounds like the world ending."
Listen to the Darker Still single below. The new album lands September 9 via Epitaph. Parkway hit the UK and Europe for a series of dates starting next month.
Parkway Drive European and UK tour 2022 dates
Sep 09: Leipzig Quarterback Immobilien Arena, DE
Sep 10: Prague Forum Karlin, CZ
Sep 12: Brussels Forest National, BE
Sep 13: Esch-sur-Alzette Rockhal, LUX
Sep 14: Frankfurt Festhalle, DE
Sep 16: Zürich Samsung Hall, CH
Sep 17: Munich Olympiahalle, DE
Sep 18: Vienna Stadthalle, AT
Sep 20: Berlin Velodrom, DE
Sep 21: Hamburg Barclays Arena, DE
Sep 23: Amsterdam AFAS Live, NL
Sep 24: Dortmund Westfalenhalle, DE
Sep 25: Stuttgart Schleyerhalle, DE
Sep 27: Paris Zenith, FR
Sep 30: London Alexandra Palace, UK
Oct 01: Manchester AO Arena, UK
Oct 02: Nottingham Motorpoint Arena,
UK Oct 03: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena, UK
