The deathcore pioneers in Despised Icon are back with Shadow Work, the band’s seventh, most dynamic and boisterous album to date. It’s fitting that their new record dropped this past Halloween on Nuclear Blast Records, given that Shadow Work boasts one of the ghastliest album covers in recent memory. Berlin based artist Eliran Kantor’s depiction of a man removing his lower jaw and wearing it like a crown fits the darker, interpersonal themes of the album, but also reaffirms Despised Icon’s status as the true OG kings of deathcore.
“Sonically, the intent here was to steer back into a more organic sound. A little less processed, a little less digital,” frontman Alex Erian says regarding the manic energy and raw vibe of Shadow Work. “As for the actual performances, we went with longer takes and putting more emphasis on the spirit of the takes and not the preciseness. Vocally, I have a home studio now so I recorded all my vocals myself. I was aiming for longer takes you know, less editing. I didn’t want to fall into that trap where, ‘this sentence is perfect but this last syllable I could just edit that part. Just switch a couple words here,’” he shares.
“It’s the same for guitars. We ended up using some of the scratch tracks that Eric [Jarrin, guitarist and co-producer alongside Erian] used during the pre-production phase of the record because they just captured the moment, captured the essence. We felt like these sounded great, we didn’t need to rerecord it,” he says proudly.
Right from the jump, the album’s titular opening track “Shadow Work” launches into a jaw dropping aural assault and serves as one of the most vicious tracks of Despised Icon’s pummeling career. “You push play and as soon as the record starts there’s no intro, no nothing. It’s just a slap in the face,” Erian shares. “There’s a lot of technicality still but not over doing it. It being purposeful. Our drummer, Alex Grind, does a lot of rapid-fire blast beats and double bass drums.” Next up, Despised Icon’s gargantuan single “Over My Dead Body” featuring Kublai Khan’s Matthew Honeycutt on guest vocals, continues the madness. This song boasts some of the nastiest panic chords and fattest guitar chugs ever conjured. By the time we hit the third track, “Death of An Artist” your eyes might bulge out of their sockets wondering when Despised Icon went black metal?!
“Sometimes you wind up finding yourself in the studio right after a tour, writing half a record while you’re actually in the recording booth. There can be a lot of magic captured in that process but this time around I wanted to switch it up and pull a full 180 and have every part be as well thought out as possible. Writing, re-writing, tweaking these songs,” he explains. “To have everything be as sincere and purposeful as possible and the result is more of a musical rollercoaster that acknowledges the past; obviously we’ve been a band for over 20 years there’s quite a bit of nostalgia attached to the name Despised Icon and we recognize that and we respect that, but I’m still very much focused on the now and on the future.”
On Shadow Work, Despised Icon embrace all the breakdowns, pig squeals and mind bending technicality that made them icons of extreme music while simultaneously expanding their musical palette and dropping some buck wild performances and killer guest features [including Carnifex screamer Scott Ian Lewis and Chelsea Grin’s Tom Barber] that makes their seventh full length release one of the most exhilarating albums in their entire discography. “I don’t want to just play these old ass songs,” Erian says. “I want to challenge myself and show people, and show myself first and foremost that I still have it in me. That we’re still grinding after all these years. The older we get, we’re in our mid-40’s now and people expect us to slow down and we get a lot of funny comments talking about our age and our appearance and what not but I want people to know that I still feel young at heart. Now more than ever, I realize the importance that music has in my life. How I sort of lost that at some point and the older that I get now, the luckier I feel to still have these opportunities.”
Shadow Work is out now, and you can order it from Nuclear Blast Records. Follow Despised Icon on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok for future updates.
Photo Credit: Eric Sanchez
