SHADOW OF INTENT Melancholy

It’s been two years since ‘Reclaimer’, the last full length album from Conneticut/Rhode Island based Shadow Of Intent saw the light of day, but now the wait is finally over as they return with their highly anticipated successor entitled ‘Melancholy’. ‘Reclaimer’ was an excellent album, probably one of the most played at my home over the last couple of years actually, but with ‘Melancholy’ they have really raised the standards to new heights. While starting as a deathcore band in their early days, Shadow Of Intent anno 2019 has expanded their musical landscape by crossing genre borders incorporating significant elements of death metal as well as black metal into their sound. Their deathcore roots are of course still very present, but you can easily draw some parallels to bands such as Dimmu Borgir, Septicflesh and Fleshgod Apocalypse. The material is technical, brutal, melodic, symphonic and very epic. The band has collaborated with Francesco Ferrini of Fleshgod Apocalypse on the orchestral arrangements, and the result is nothing short of amazing. If I was to describe this album with only two words it would be; Musical Perfection! Ben Duerr has already gained a reputation as one of the best (if not the best) extreme metal singers in the todays game and he only seems to get better and better expanding his vocal register from album to album. Chris Wiseman of course deserves huge credits for his amazing guitar work as well. At last but not least I must add that the song material is insanely strong without a single weak moment in sight, and if noting extraordinary should happen the next few months this is probably 2019’s album of the year!

Discography:

Melancholy (2019)

Reclaimer (2017)

Primordial (2016)