This is the first time I’ve bought such a vastly different sound, and been like, ‘Yo, guys I got a song, it starts with synth ( laughs).’ I’ve made a lot of songs where I’m screaming about her – she’s got Carrion. It’s also very tailored to her sonically ( laughs). I do write a fair few songs for her, there’s generally a Parkway song for her on every record and I’ve always made a point of that because she does inspire me. “I showed her the words first and I think she cried. A strong female is something people fear, or would wanna tear down, so it’s about someone being able to stand up for themselves, and be who they need to be. It’s a song for my wife who is an amazing person and the entire song is about the way people are perceived when they’re strong. “These are my favourite set of lyrics I’ve ever written. Now, let’s take a closer look at each track… So it’s strange to have helped people, because the only thing I was trying to do was help myself, as selfish as that sounds.” You don’t think, ‘Maybe someone else is going through this’, you’re so consumed by yourself that that’s all there is. “It’s nice when people go, ‘I like ya music!’ But the amount of people I’ve had come up to me and say, ‘Thank you for putting into words what I haven’t been able to do in my process of grieving.’ I didn’t expect it, just because it was so personal to me. “I’ve been so humbled by the response,” he adds. The Byron Bay metallers’ latest record deals with some heavy themes, including the passing of Architects guitarist Tom Searle and Winston’s first true friend (his dog Monty), plus child abuse in the Catholic Church, and it’s had a profound effect on many of its listeners. “The experimentation and musical palette we chose to work with was much more vast than anything we’d done before and so much more adventurous.” “I loved writing the music for that album,” he remembers.

But eight months on he can finally look back on the experience somewhat more fondly.

As they return to these shores to blast away anyway remaining new year cobwebs next week, we figured it was high-time we reflected back on those songs.Īsk Parkway Drive frontman Winston McCall what his memories of making their sixth album are and he’ll say “the channeling of pain”. Australia's premier exponents of crushing metalcore, Parkway Drive, released the brilliant Reverence last summer.

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