Style: symphonic deathcore (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Lorna Shore, Synestia, Disembodied Tyrant, Fleshgod Apocalypse
Country: Connecticut, United States
Release date: 27 June 2025

At metal concerts, I’m much more of a “stand in the back next to the sound guy and headbang” guy than a mosher. Call me lame and not a real metalhead¹, but risking bodily injury AND getting a worse quality of sound just isn’t worth it to me; it takes something special to get me in the circle. Shadow of Intent in concert earlier this year kicked so much ass I ran around in the silly circles, even participating in my first wall of death—of course, part of the reason I moshed was because my Subway nemesis Dylan was present at the show, and I couldn’t pass up a free chance to shove him. I’ve been a fan of the (previously) Halo-themed symphonic, sometimes technical, deathcore band since I was just getting into metal (and will still argue that Reclaimer is a top five deathcore album of all time), but I’d cooled on the Connecticut group’s output since 2019’s album Melancholia—not for lack of quality, just a natural evolution of taste. Will Shadow of Intent’s new album, Imperium Delirium, capitalize on nostalgia and the momentum from their concert experience?

Imperium Delirium sure sounds like Shadow of Intent, the band continuing their at-this-point formulaic approach: bombastic fake orchestration, searing guitar solos, inhuman vocals, and, of course, breakdowns galore. And now on their fifth album, Shadow of Intent’s formula is tried, true, and predictable. The opener “Prepare to Die” shows off the full spectrum of the band’s sound with an over-dramatic symphonic intro leading into Ben Duerr’s shotgun gutturals, while drummer Bryce Butler goes ham. After a brief reprieve from the overwhelming wall-of-sound’s epicness, Chris Wiseman sets fire across his frets. The song develops a little more underneath a blazing riff until its ending breakdown. No matter how shreddy and cheesily orchestrated Shadow of Intent get, they never want you to forget that they’re in the neck-snapping business—and damn good at it. Unfortunately, every track (except instrumental “Apocalypse Canvas” which made me audibly exclaim “they have a bassist?!”) unfolds similarly, if not with “slightly varied” song structures—that is, where will the breakdown, chorus, and solo be this time?

As always on a Shadow of Intent album, the synthesized orchestration makes Imperium Delirium engaging and fun, as do the guitar solos and choruses with their cleanly screamed crowd chants. The orchestration gets significantly drowned in the mix because so many layers of instrumentation and metal are happening at once, yet their background presence is enough to make Imperium Delirium feel cinematic, albeit a bit played out at this point. Often, the album’s highlight moments are backed by orchestration, such as on “The Facets of Propaganda.” While incredibly cliche with its stereotypically Middle Eastern melody and instrumentation, the track is wild, playing with centering the orchestration. However, directly clashing with the warm cinematics of the synthesized orchestra is a horribly misplaced electronic keyboard sound that reappears over and over throughout the album, curdling the orchestration like a lemon in milk. For instance, “Flying the Black Flag” uses the keys in its initial breakdown, and in “They Murdered Sleep” they crop up throughout as a cheap sounding nuisance. Conversely, the real piano that Shadow of Intent are prone to use in the rare chill moments is awesome—the band should have stuck with that.

Unlike your average metal elitist², I love a good breakdown, especially seeing how pivotal they are to a deathcore band like Shadow of Intent in a live setting. Ben Duerr is a stellar vocalist with unreal gutturals and vowel enunciation, and he switches between several styles during each breakdown, from Archspire-esque quick-flow vocals to vicious screams and deep barks. Every breakdown in Imperium Delirium seems identical, though, undifferentiated from any other competent deathcore band. atop janky, unpredictable rhythms, and brown-note chugs. If you’ve ever heard a deathcore breakdown, all of the dozen or more on this record will be redundant despite Duerr’s outstanding vocal capabilities and Shadow of Intent’s symphonic schtick. 

Five albums in, and it seems like Shadow of Intent are done evolving. While their formula is undeniably solid, the creative spark of the first two albums ran out of fuel. Imperium Delirium is an entertaining symphonic deathcore album when that’s all the rage with the -core kids right now (looking at you, Lorna Shore), and the record is solid fun. And although it lacks the stunning and fresh ideas of Shadow of Intent’s older records, at least I know the songs on Imperium Delirium will be fun live!

Recommended tracks: The Facets of Propaganda, Apocalypse Canvas, Imperium Delirium
You may also like: Mental Cruelty, A Wake in Providence, Ovid’s Withering
Final verdict: 5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives

Label: independent

Shadow of Intent is:
– Ben Duerr (vocals)
– Chris Wiseman – Guitar/Keyboards/Vocals
– Bryce Butler – Drums
– Andrew Monias – Bass/Vocals
With guests:
– Corpsegrinder (vocals, track 7)

1. As the vocalist of Decrepit Birth did to the non-moshers at their concert recently, which is no way to treat paying concert-goers, especially when you play in a low B-tier tech death band who can’t produce an album well. ︎
2. Let it be known I am an elitist, just far above the plebeian average elitist. ︎

The post Review: Shadow of Intent – Imperium Delirium appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: symphonic deathcore, technical death metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Lorna Shore, Worm Shephard, Shadow of Intent
Country: Minnesota, United States
Release date: 3 May 2024

After Worm Shephard’s The Sleeping Sun was released in 2023 I truly thought that the genre of symphonic deathcore had found its crown jewel. Sure, Lorna Shore’s Pain Remains from the year prior gleamed brightly, but The Sleeping Sun delivered in spades the level of heaviness, grandeur, and bombast that the genre had been building towards for years. Like most deathcore releases, I eventually grew tired of The Sleeping Sun after a few months; perhaps I simply spun it too much, or perhaps, as I would come to learn, The Sleeping Sun was not the best symphonic deathcore had on offer. Enter genre greenhorns Synestia & Disembodied Tyrant.

Each with their own back catalogues of singles and full releases, the two man Synestia and one man Disembodied Tyrant each had pieces of the puzzle that eventually became the collaborative EP The Poetic Edda. Combining the symphonic bent of Synestia’s previous work with the sheer brutality and clever production skills of Disembodied Tyrant created a product so addictive that the DEA may as well list it as a schedule I substance. Across its four tracks, The Poetic Edda delivers pure unadulterated deathcore fun.

The EP begins with “Death Empress,” a stellar opening that clears the path for all to follow with its crystalline symphonic production and absolutely face-melting lead guitar tone. The track weaves its way through all the stylings of modern deathcore with ease and eventually climaxes with what very well may be the best breakdown of the year thanks to its clever use of synthesized symphonic elements and other various production trickery. Yes, the string sections and choral elements are synthesized—this is an underground deathcore band we’re talking about—but at no point did I feel that the synthesized elements detracted from the final product. If anything, it opened the release up to more creative expression as it was no longer limited by physical possibility.

“I, The Devourer” scales much of the same terrain as its predecessor, taking the listener through barked verses, symphonic segues, and catchy buildups. It also features one of my favorite moments from the EP where, at its halfway point, the track breaks into a metalcore-tinged riff that propels the song straight into the solo, another track highlight. Employing a style somewhere between that of Rings of Saturn and Lorna Shore, the leadwork in combination with the machine gun fire riffage beneath it combine to create something that could only be a product of the modern music age: utterly pristine and shimmering, yet addictive and just plain fun to listen to. 

The EP’s title track sounds a lot like the previous two tracks, and it is usually here in my listen-throughs where the release’s few flaws start to show. Like a lot of deathcore, The Poetic Edda only has a few truly solid ideas and it kinda beats them to death. Yes, each breakdown rips, but you can only listen to so many rhythmic escapades that sound as though they were composed via a series of elaborate dice rolls before things start to get a little tiresome. Yes, the lead guitar and violin sound amazing in unison, but you can’t do the same thing in back to back tracks, especially on a four track EP with so little time to deliver your point.

Thankfully, The Poetic Edda shakes off the dust with its final track, a reimagining of Vivaldi’s “Winter.” When I see The Poetic Edda referenced online, this track almost always gets the first mention and rightfully so. Even though you’ve heard all these melodies before (even if you don’t think you have, trust me), Synestia & Disembodied Tyrant are able to revitalize them with blast beats, breakdowns, and brutal barking vocals; the whole thing is just plain fun. The cover is so good in fact, that I hope both bands will be able to top it with later releases; we all know what happened to Alien Ant Farm. Thankfully, Disembodied Tyrant has already released the equally high quality The Tower: Part One which sees the one man band once again shedding the symphonicism for raw aggression, and I’m sure Synestia isn’t far behind with another release of their own. Regardless of the paths these bands take in the future, I just hope that they collaborate again because The Poetic Edda is too good to happen just once. It seems that symphonic deathcore has found its crown jewel, for now.

Recommended tracks: Death Empress, Winter
You may also like: Dragoncorpse, Vermilion Dawn
Final verdict: 8.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp: Synestia, Disembodied Tyrant | Spotify: Synestia, Disembodied Tyrant | Facebook: Synestia, Disembodied Tyrant | Instagram: Synestia, Disembodied Tyrant | Metal-Archives page: Synestia

Label: Independent

Synestia is:
– Sam Melchior (guitars, orchestrations)
– Ville Hokkanen (vocals)
Disembodied Tyrant is:
– Blake Mullens (vocals, guitars, orchestrations)
– Rene Gerbrandy (drums)

The post Missed Album Review: Synestia & Disembodied Tyrant – The Poetic Edda appeared first on The Progressive Subway.