01. Prepare To Die
02. Flying The Black Flag
03. Infinity Of Horrors
04. Mechanical Chaos
05. They Murdered Sleep
06. The Facets Of Propaganda
07. Feeding The Meatgrinder [feat. Corpsegrinder]
08. Vehement Draconian Vengeance
09. Beholding The Sickness Of Civilization
10. Apocalypse Canvas
11. No Matter The Cost
12. Imperium Delirium
There’s something really rewarding about discovering a band midway along an exciting stylistic journey and then seeing them take that sound in even more satisfying directions; when the same band takes a step back and leans into another direction, it can bring about mixed emotions, and a struggle for impartiality as a reviewer.
I think I did a fairly comprehensive job of expressing my admiration for Shadow Of Intent’s Elegy back when it was released; their previous album Melancholy had been a very successful introduction to the band for myself, who was charmed by the extensive symphonic-tinged melodic leanings of the record compared with much of the deathcore scene, and Elegy upped the ante in terms of the standard of the orchestrations and quality of the songwriting. However, perhaps not all were in agreement; when I saw the band supporting Cattle Decapitation in January of this year, I was surprised that their set featured fewer songs from Elegy than not only Melancholy but also previous release Reclaimer. Listening to Imperium Delirium, that setlist makes a bit more sense.
All of these albums could arguably be categorized as ‘symphonic deathcore’; however, while Elegy was heavy on the orchestrations and somewhat light on the deathcore, to the extent that their nomination in Symphonic Metal in the 2022 Awards felt justifiable, the equation is flipped this time around. There’s still faux-strings and choirs on Imperium Delirium, but with the exception of a couple of tracks or moments within them, the symphonic elements feel more like dramatic flourish rather than the fully realized arrangements encountered in parts of the previous records. On the flip side, the metallic foundation of the record is more firmly rooted in deathcore (albeit still with influences from the likes of black metal), as the riffs are consistently chonkier and breakdowns more prevalent.
This isn’t inherently a negative move to take, and the album is still clearly recognizable as one from Shadow Of Intent; there’s strings and reverberating drums heralding the album’s arrival at the beginning of the fast and frenetic “Prepare To Die”, which later ascends to another level with a blistering solo, while lead single “Flying The Black Flag” exhibits the band’s anthemic tendencies with a soaring tremolo-laden chorus that nicely contrasts the surrounding chugging rhythms. Later in the record, the hyperspeed energy of the symph-black romp “Vehement Draconian Vengeance” immediately grabs listeners’ attention with its choral chants and rampant, blast-laden tremolo melody lines.
The meaner, heavier side of the band is also regularly on display, none more so than during “Feeding The Meatgrinder”. The preceding release had some noteworthy guests in Phil Bozeman and Chuck Billy, and this new record’s big feature is Cannibal Corpse’s Corpsegrinder, who is given a thick, grinding death metallic cut to sink his growls into, capped off with a particularly dingy breakdown. Other songs that ratchet up the intensity and revel in breakdowns include the vicious “Infinity Of Horrors” and grisly, gargling chugger “Mechanical Chaos”.
Shadow Of Intent are a very accomplished deathcore band right at the zenith of the genre, at least for my tastes, but there are drawbacks to this shift in priorities, and memorability is the factor most substantially affected. Coming right after two records filled with impactful hooks, Imperium Delirium has struggled to grab my attention in the same way, with “Flying The Black Flag” and “Vehement Draconian Vengeance” the only two songs to reliably invest me in the album for at least the first several spins. One factor influencing this that’s not yet been mentioned is the prominence of Chris Wiseman’s cleaner vocals; they already had far less time in the sun on Elegy than its predecessor, but this time around they’re sometimes barely noticeable at all, with “Beholding The Sickness Of Civilization” one of only a couple of tracks to include them in any significant capacity.
On a shorter album, the memorability issue might be less of a concern, but coming in just a few minutes shorter than the hefty Elegy, Imperium Delirium has a lot of time in which listeners can lose their concentration, which frequently happened for me in the stretch between “Flying The Black Flag” and “Feeding The Meatgrinder”, in spite of strong moments such as the sorrowful, stirring chorus of “They Murdered Sleep”, or the dazzling solo leading into a tasty rolling breakdown at the end of “The Facets Of Propaganda”. If there’s one point in which this new record clearly outweighs its predecessor, it’s the lively instrumental “Apocalypse Canvas”, which has a lot more going for it than “Reconquest”.
It leads into a fairly solid closing one-two to the album, as the piano work during “No Matter The Cost” nicely complements the mostly mid-tempo metal of the track, while “Imperium Delirium” is an accomplished and ambitious closer, with ethereal clean vocals, stirring cleaner solo section and emphatic chants during its climactic breakdown, even if I find it less compelling than the “Elegy” trilogy suite. Overall, Imperium Delirium is a solid addition to the Shadow Of Intent discography, but even though I appreciate their decision to go in this direction, when I think back to the sheer number of replays I’ve given Melancholy and Elegy in the past half-decade or so, I do find my relative lack of inclination to revisit this record to be a slight disappointment.
| Written on 08.07.2025 by Hey chief let’s talk why not |