Reverence

Having mastered one of metal’s angriest subgenres, Parkway Drive just got even heavier. <i>Reverence</i>, the Australian metalcore legends’ sixth album, picks up where 2015’s expansive, exploratory <i>Ire</i> left off. Rather than racing ahead with faster BPMs and ear-splitting shrieks, the band dig deeper—led by Winston McCall’s monstrous growls—to cataclysmic theatrical effect. Acoustic guitars, synths and sinister spoken word add melodrama to “Wishing Wells” and “Cemetery Bloom”, and “The Void” packs a punch with thrilling, harmonised power-metal solos. After 15 years, Parkway Drive aren’t just relevant: they’ve still got plenty of pulverising tricks up their sleeves.