Chris Wiseman - Shadow of Intent 'A Heavy Elegy For The Living'

Climbing the ranks of the deathcore scene recently have been Connecticut band Shadow of Intent. The outfit have caught the attention of heavy music aficionados across genres with their monstrous 2019 record Melancholy, not to mention a farther back catalogue, as well as a fun Lamb of God 'Laid to Rest' cover.

Shadow of Intent are impressively fully independent from any record labels, and are set to release their brand new record Elegy (our review here) on January 14th, which we're sure will be soon announced by the UN as international deathcore day, with the date's coinciding album releases with Fit For An Autopsy, Enterprise Earth, Worm Shepherd, and even a single from Darko (US). The record features some big singles already unveiled to the world, namely 'Intensified Genocide', 'From Ruin... We Rise', 'Where Millions Have Come To Die' feat. Whitechapel's Phil Bozeman, and most recently 'Of Fury'.

We had to get the lowdown from Shadow of Intent so we had a chat with Chris Wiseman (guitarist and lead songwriter) ahead of their beast LP and learn a bit more about how they've gotten to where they have today.

It feels like the looming release of the upcoming record Elegy is nearing fast, what's the feeling like in the Shadow of Intent camp?

We are mainly just excited for everyone to hear it, we hit some variety that we haven't before and it feels like this has been a long time coming.

How would you describe the new album compared to Melancholy?

The album is a little more fun and proggy, a touch less black-metally while retaining all of the important core elements we've always had.

You guys have released some monstrous singles already in the lead up to the release, one even with Whitechapel's Phil Bozeman, what urged you guys to collaborate with Phil? I think you guys even released 'Where Millions Have Come to Die' on their album release day?

We've always been fans of his, and he has been super supportive of the band ever since we did our first tour with them. It felt like a full circle moment to have a collab with him.

Was there any particular vision or objective before writing Elegy, maybe from the point of view that you guys are getting pretty well established now and have a pretty significant fanbase to cater to?

For me it was to maintain the core of what the band is, but try to bring in some new elements as well. I wanted to keep everything fun, but overall the vision was to have the grandest orchestrations we've had to make the music more of an experience.

You guys are sharing the very early 2022 release day of Jan 14 with some awesome peers like Fit For An Autopsy, Enterprise Earth and Worm Shepherd; is it daunting sharing that release day at all, and had you known it would be so deathcore heavy would you have chosen another release day, or are you thriving in it as a bit of a belated deathcore Christmas for fans?

It was definitely funny choosing that day and then every couple of weeks I found out that another new band chose that day as well. I think it makes it a very special day for the fans and hopefully it's a long-remembered day amongst the community.

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Shadow of Intent 2022[/caption]

I understand you guys are fully independent and do things your own way without labels and all stuff, how's that going for you guys, are you pretty savvy in self promotion, has cutting the middle man out been really helpful to get the band off the ground?

It is truly incredible, it is probably among the greatest decisions we've made in our career. I wouldn't necessarily say it helped getting the band off the ground as having the extra budget and marketing team can be nice, but it makes the band a lot more fun and less stressful for me when I know everything that's going on behind the scenes not only business-wise, but communication-wise and creativity-wise as well. We definitely learn more and more about self promotion as time goes on, but I think it really holds true that word-of-mouth is some of the best promotion there is.

In my view there's been a new wave of deathcore coming through the scene, and it's really reinvigorated a pocket of heavy music that's now feeling like it's on the forefront. I think of bands like yourselves, Brand of Sacrifice, Slaughter to Prevail and even Lorna Shore, and it's feeling like the mid to late 2000s again - do you think there's a growing culture and demand for this style of music at the moment?

I absolutely do, it is awesome to be a part of the wave with these friends of ours. I currently work with Leo from BoS on a management level, Jack from STP works on merch with us, and so many past and present members of Lorna have been great friends of ours since SOI started, it is so great to see all of them thriving. I think the success that everyone is having makes it undeniable that this wave of deathcore (or whatever you'd like to call it) has really become a staple in today's culture.

Compared to some of those names I mentioned there, Shadow of Intent take on a unique style, with symphonic and blackened signature elements - who would you say is the brainchild for some of these components in the band?

Ben and I both have always been into the symphonic black metal style, and without his support I wouldn't have pursued it as hard as I did. Meeting and working with people like Randy Pasquarella, Kelsie Hargita, and Francesco Ferrini really expanded my "symphonic" vocabulary and what I can make happen with my keyboard parts

I know it's been a weird time globally, but can Aussie fans expect an appearance from Shadow of Intent in the not so distant future, pending border situations?

We'd definitely like to come, hopefully the border situations do improve soon!

Any final words to fans before picking up Elegy after their new years celebrations?

Just a huge thank you to everyone that's been a part of this journey with us, we are looking forward to everybody hearing these songs!

Interview by Ricky Aarons (@rickysaul90)

Pre-order Shadow of Intent‘s upcoming record Elegy here.

Shadow of Intent – Elegy tracklisting

1. Farewell
2. Saurian King
3. The Coming Fire
4. Of Fury
5. Intensified Genocide
6. Life of Exile
7. Where Millions Have Come To Die (feat. Phil Bozeman)
8. From Ruin… We Rise
9. Blood in the Sands of Time (feat. Chuck Billy)
10. Reconquest
11. Elegy I: Adapt
12. Elegy II: Devise
13. Elegy III: Overcome