Parkway Drive power metal? Not what we expected, but we are here for it.
The Australian metalcore powerhouse have just released a new track titled “The Greatest Fear”, along with an announcement of their forthcoming seventh studio album. The album is titled Darker Still, and is set to be released on September 9th of this year.
The first single off the new record, “Glitch”, is a mid-tempo stomper with beaming melodies and a natural scream-along chorus that seemed to serve as a preview of more to come. Instead, Parkway Drive unleashed a power metal track with bright guitar riffs and solos, and large scale choir-like backing vocals on the chorus that feel more like a Blind Guardian track than a Parkway Drive track. Vocalist Winston McCall spoke on the meaning behind the new track, signaling death as something we as humans should not fear.
“The greatest fear, the one we all share; this song is about the unifying force we all must face —death. The goal was to create a song that saw death not as something that separates, but something that connects us all on our paths. Musically, we wanted to create a song that did this concept justice. It’s heavy, it’s epic and when it stomps it leaves an impact.”
Check out the artwork and tracklisting for Darker Still, as well as the music video for the new single “The Greatest Fear” below!
Ground Zero
Like Napalm
Glitch
The Greatest Fear
Darker Still
Imperial Heretic
If a God Can Bleed
Soul Bleach
Stranger
Land of the Lost
From the Heart of the Darkness
Decker recently had the chance to speak with Winston McCall virtually. When asked about the new album McCall didn’t offer many details, though he did hint at trying new things musically within the album. This sentiment is quite evident in “The Greatest Fear” as it is a sound not synonymous with Parkway Drive.
It’s definitely an introspective journey through the music that you’re going to be hearing. But a very varied journey…there’s stuff coming out that we approached in a far different way than we’ve done before. Like even down to the way we’ve written future music. It was like “Alright the world’s ending no holds barred, go absolute ham on whatever you’re going to do” and spend time committing to stuff that you didn’t have time to do in the past in terms of literally learning how to write certain compositions and stuff like that. So yeah, we’ll see what people make of it.
Parkway Drive will be taking a mental health break following the release of Darker Still. Winston McCall confirmed to Decker that the band is doing well, they just need some time away from each other and the spotlight. Check out the full conversation with Winston below.
