We consider the parabolic Anderson problem $\partial_t u=\kappa\Delta u+\xi
u$ on $(0,\infty)\times \Z^d$ with random i.i.d. potential
$\xi=(\xi(z))_{z\in\Z^d}$ and the initial condition $u(0,\cdot)\equiv1$. Our
main assumption is that $\esssup\xi(0)=0$. Depending on the thickness of the
distribution $\prob(\xi(0)\in\cdot)$ close to its essential supremum, we
identify both the asymptotics of the moments of $u(t,0)$ and the almost-sure
asymptotics of $u(t,0)$ as $t\to\infty$ in terms of variational problems. As a
by-product, we establish Lifshitz tails for the random Schr\"odinger operator
$-\kappa\Delta-\xi$ at the bottom of its spectrum. In our class of $\xi$
distributions, the Lifshitz exponent ranges from $d/2$ to $\infty$; the power
law is typically accompanied by lower-order corrections.