Parkway Drive, Thy Art is Murder, The Amity Affliction – Utilita Arena, Birmingham – Sunday 5th October 2025

Parkway Drive always deliver in the live environment, and each tour has seen a bigger production than the one before, so when a European tour was announced there was a lot of excitement and anticipation, and this tour quickly became unmissable for large chunks of the metal community. Having Thy Art is Murder and The Amity Affliction announced as supports simply reinforced this and I duly made my way back to the West Midlands and the Utilita Arena, via the obligatory pop up shop, to catch the show.

THE AMITY AFFLICTION

Doors opened at 1730, giving the queue plenty of time to get in, raid the merch stall, visit the bar and get a spot in readiness for the evening’s opening band, The Amity Affliction. The crowd was still relatively sparse in the peripheries of the cavernous arena as the Australian metalcore outfit launched into the catchy Pittsburgh with the faithful at the front providing loud supporting vocals. The harsh and melodic dual vocal approach worked well making things accessible, with pop sensibilities while also remaining heavy enough to appease those who like things on the heavier side.

Crowd pleaser All My Friends Are Dead came mid set getting a loud crowd response keeping momentum going and getting the crowd moving until the set was brought to a close with a triumphant Soak Me In Bleach. Those that already knew the band had a whale of a time, and many of those being introduced to the band for the first time left as converts. 

THY ART IS MURDER

The Vengaboys played over the PA with the crowd singing and dancing along enthusiastically until Thy Art is Murder took to the stage, bringing a more claustrophobic atmosphere as Blood And Throne erupted, flattening everything in its path as it rumbled around the arena. The band took a moment to reflect that they were a death metal band sandwiched between two metalcore bands, saying that they needed the crowd to show them the horns and get the pits moving as one aural battery led into another. Holy War was a particular highlight, with the video scenes showing appropriate images of war and armageddon. This was straight up, no nonsense, unrelenting death metal/deathcore, and it was glorious in its own brutal way before the set closed with Puppet Master. 

PARKWAY DRIVE

The venue had filled up nicely in the lead up to tonight’s headliners, Parkway Drive, and the PA was warming up the crowd with Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Queen and AC/DC providing the soundtrack to get the voices ready, before a video came on the big screens showing the rise of the band from their very early days playing tiny shows to the present.

The lights then went down and the band entered the arena floor in a back corner with two huge banners. They made their way through the crowd and over the barriers before climbing onto a small square stage “island” which was set forward from the main stage and had crowd either side, before launching into a lively Carrion’ with the crowd being loud from the outset. The band didn’t have much space but seemed to feed off each others energy, and that of the crowd.

An epic Prey followed with the crowd bouncing and singing enthusiastically. As the track came to a close, the band lined up at the back of the small stage, facing the main stage, as a walkway/ramp was lowered from the ceiling connecting the small stage and the main stage. The band made their way across and dramatically launched into ‘Glitch’ complete with on stage sparks and dancers adding to the visual impact. As the song drew to its climax, Winston (vocals) made his way back across the runway chased by the demons/dancers before pyros erupted across the stage at the climax of the track. This had already been something special and was only just starting!

MORE PYRO!

Recent single Sacred followed with more pyros before the distinctive intro to Vice Grip rang out around the arena to a huge cheer. Things got a little heavier with a battering version of Boneyards’ which saw Joel Birch (The Amity Affliction) & Andy Marsh (Thy Art Is Murder) join on guest vocals & guitar respectively. There was a little respite to reflect on how far the band have come in their 20 year career and how proud the band were to have an all Australian bill, before launching into Horizons which culminated with Jeff Ling (guitars) being elevated high above the crowd on the walkway for an extended solo with sparks falling dramatically from the structure. 

Things slowed a little as Winston returned to the small stage, surrounded by four cloaked dancers for an emotive rendition of Cemetery Bloom which inevitably led The Void complete with fireworks and red lights as the crowd became even louder. Wishing Wells saw Winston on the small stage under a spotlight as “rain” fell on him from upon high. After the sinister intro, the song kicked in, seeing the energy levels get even higher, and this for me was perhaps the highlight of the night. 

PUMMELING RHYTHMS

There was then a brief pause while Winston explained that the band wanted to play a track from their debut album Killing With A Smile. However, the band couldn’t decide which track to play so they took all the heaviest parts of the album and put them together to make a ten minute medley. We were warned it would be heavy, and it certainly was – For all of the melodies and glitz of more recent material, it was great to return to the early days and have our ears battered for ten minutes off chunky riffs, breakdowns and pummeling rhythms. 

Dark Days led into Idols And Anchors which saw Winston in the middle of the crowd on a small rotating platform with a circle pit swirling around him with Jeff on the small stage providing the main melody line as the crowd sang along enthusiastically. Towards the end of the song, Winston crowd surfed back to the stage. The arena fell into darkness before a string trio were lowered to the stage on the walkway playing an intro to Chronos with the band and string musicians clearly enjoying themselves. Things slowed down a little as phones lit up the arena for the emotive intro to the powerful Darker Still with the strings sounding glorious.

During the track, the bands logo was lowered from the ceiling, erupting in flames as a wall of flame appeared on the stage at the same time. Thing stepped up a notch for a fast version of the anthemic Bottom Feeder with the crowd bouncing, energetic pits and of course more pyros. 

…AND…MORE PYRO

A drum solo then saw the drum kit rotate so that the drummer was upside down as the dancers threw molotov cocktails until the metal square frame around the drum kit was alight with flames! More and more pyros appeared, on the stage floor, shooting upwards, shooting sidewards and around the edge of the small stage encircling Winston. The ramp then elevated high above the arena with Winston on it, as sidewards pyros shot out from the ramp and the rest of the stage was engulfed in flame. Spectacular! After some thank yous, the band all returned to the small front stage for closing track Wild Eyes, leaving the crowd to head satisfied  out into the Birmingham night. 

Parkway Drive undoubtedly have an enviable back catalogue packed with bona fide metal anthems, but they are about more than just the music. Their name has become synonymous with dramatic live shows, full of energy and charisma and this tour has not disappointed. The only question is where to go next!

Photos from the crowd with a point and shoot by Andy Pountney (Event Photography Awards Winner 2024 and 2025). You can check out more of Andy’s work on shot_in_the_dark_photography2 on Instagram.

Parkway Drive online: Website / Facebook / Instagram / X / Youtube

Thy Art Is Murder online: Website / Facebook / Instagram / X / Youtube

The Amity Affliction online: Website / Facebook / Instagram / X

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