Shadow of Intent - Primordial (2016)^{Release ID: 11935}

There comes a time when a band is starting out with just a vocalist and an instrumentalist, relying on programming for strings, bass, and drums. When Shadow of Intent began their journey like that, they've managed to make it all sound as organic as they would in subsequent albums when human members joined this lineup. Those textures add more flavor to make this symphonic/technical/melodic deathcore dish, with vocals and speed that melodeath fans would crave...

Their debut album Primordial, along with their next one Reclaimer, were inspired by the Halo video games and take you through this interstellar extreme realm. The precise machinery of the deep riffing, rapid drumming, and searing soloing can be associated with Rings of Saturn, while symphonic strings replace all that 8-bit atmospheric jazz.

The rising dramatic strings that begin "The Prelude to Bereavement" might make you think it's an actual prelude, but that all changes when the heavy instrumentation comes in. It's basically a more epic brutal take on the Finnish melodeath of Insomnium and Omnium Gatherum! You can consider "The Shaping Sickness" a blend of the bands Fleshgod Apocalypse and Gravemind. It sounds vocally better than in the demo EP Inferi Sententia (containing demos of half of the amount of songs in the debut). "The Invoking of the Execution of Worlds" takes the Fleshgod Apocalypse influences further. "The Cosmic Inquisitor" has some pieces of the tech-death/thrash of Revocation, from the heavy intro riffing to the sweeping guitar soloing. Brutal guest vocals are done by Dan Watson, former vocalist of Infant Annihilator and Enterprise Earth.

"The Didact's Will" is an 8-minute epic in the middle of the album instead of the end. They basically made a more epic round of 2000s Avatar-like melodeath while also adding in some progressiveness from 90s Anacrusis. Thrashing around further is "The Last Bastion", especially towards the end. "The Battle of the Maginot Sphere" continues to rely on the growls of vocalist Ben Duerr, but it doesn't always work in times when he goes as fast as a rapper or an auctioneer. When he slows down to a more understandable speed though, that's when the vocals and music are in well-engaging interplay.

Then we have some clean verses in "The Twin Revelation" sounding close to Trivium. The big problem is, the clean singing sounds a bit whiny, almost like that guy from The Gathering's Almost a Dance. Luckily, there's none of that in other tracks. The instrumental "The Aftermath in Jat-Krula" pushes forward a symphonic mix of the deathcore of 90s Embodyment and the melodeath of early 2000s Soilwork. For "The Indexing", think of it like a killer blend of Betraying the Martyrs, At the Gates, and Yngwie Malmsteen.

Theatrical symphonic melodic deathcore is what the American metal scene needed in a time when people were getting tired of hearing melodic metalcore bands like Killswitch Engage for over a decade. Actually, both the symphonic deathcore and melodic metalcore scenes are timeless to me. The point is, Primordial shows that Shadow of Intent has potential to help build up the former despite staying an underground band. If you're up for a blend of Fleshgod Apocalypse and Rings of Saturn, this is it right here! Just note that it will take some time to grow on you, as it did for me for 3 years via several of their songs, starting with that killer final track....

Favorites: "The Prelude to Bereavement", "The Shaping Sickness", "The Cosmic Inquisitor", "The Didact's Will", "The Indexing"