Darker Still

Darker Still was the band's first album since Reverence in 2018. Winston McCall explained that it explores the dark night of the soul, a point in life where a person's beliefs, sense of self and place in the world are thrown into question. The press material lays out its eleven songs in three acts: "Ground Zero" opens the setup, the nearly seven-minute title track sits at the centre of the second act, and "From the Heart of the Darkness" brings the resolution. Society's fear of death, isolation and a loss of humanity run through the lyrics as well. McCall said the band took on compositions they had attempted before without the courage, time or understanding to carry them through. Jeff Ling, long drawn to early-1990s metal, wanted a classic guitar tone, and Ben Gordon said the production looks back slightly to the 1990s with more real and natural sounds. George Hadjichristou produced the album, Zakk Cervini mixed it and Ted Jensen mastered it, while Gordon Hamilton arranged and conducted the orchestral and choir parts and Hedi Xandt created the artwork. The band was Winston McCall on vocals, Jeff Ling and Luke Kilpatrick on guitars, Jia O'Connor on bass and Ben Gordon on drums. "Glitch", a song about night terrors and sleep paralysis, arrived on 7 June 2022 as the band's first new music in four years, and the album was announced on 6 July with a video for "The Greatest Fear"; a video for the title track followed in August. Darker Still was released on 9 September 2022 through Epitaph Records, and through Parkway Records in Australia. It entered the ARIA albums chart at No. 1, the band's third consecutive chart-topper after Ire and Reverence. According to the band it reached No. 5 in Germany and Switzerland and No. 7 in Austria, and in the United States it entered Billboard's Top Album Sales at No. 19 and Hard Rock Albums at No. 13. At the 2023 ARIA Music Awards it won Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album and was nominated for Best Group.