Release Day Roundup: 10/31/25

Top Picks

Despised Icon – Shadow Work (deathcore)

Deathcore has come a long way since that Despised Icon's The Healing Process pretty much defined and perfected the genre's sound all in one go, but few have come close to matching its brutal supremacy. This includes Despised Icon themselves, who provided further foundations with The Ills of Modern Man (2007), jumped the misogynistic shark for Day of Mourning (2009) and have put out a few solid, if rather unmemorable, releases since returning in 2014/16. As important and influential as they were, the reunited Despised Icon didn't really move with the times, leaving one to wonder if they were really needed in these much more popular and developed deathcore decades. Now, however—(more than) twenty years after they helped define the genre, and another ten since their second coming—are proving once again that they reign supreme.

In this age of downtuned beatdowns and blackened symphonics, it's tempting to say that Shadow Work "puts the death back in deathcore"—which it certainly does. As always, the blast-beat laden demolitions of drummer of Alex Pelletier are the driving force behind the album, drawing a much more direct lineage between Despised Icon and their own death metal forefathers than most of the bands they've inspired. Here, however, guitarists Eric Jarrin and Ben Landreville have stepped up both the technicality and ferocity of their assault so that it matches and even exceeds that of The Healing Process. This leads to tracks like "Death of an Artist", which is maybe the best song they, or any other deathcore band, have ever done, or "Omen of Misfortune", which goes hard enough to tear your skin clean off.

At the same time though, there is a also a notable influx of more traditional hardcore frameworks and tempos. these mostly come courtesy of dual vocalists Steve Marois and Alex Erian, who tag-team vocal assault leaves little room for retreat. So that, amid all the extreme metal brutality, you also get songs like "Corpse Pose" which bends its Cannibal Corpse riffing into a compelling two-step section, or the "The Apparition", whose Decapitated-esque groove gives way to braggadocios hardcore hostilities. As great as the rest of the band's performances are, it's perhaps Marois and Erian's accentuated vocal assaults that most effectively elevate Shadow Work above Despised Icon's previous output. As ridiculous and unrelenting as the album is, it is also packed to its scalped brim with hooks. In addition to all its accentuated brutality, it's wonder Ali-style respiratory command of "breath out! breath in!" of "Corpse Pose" hasn't been done before. Elsewhere, "Reaper" acknowledges their legacy, beginning by proclaiming themselves the "2002 OG[s]" who started out with a vision" before delivering an eeeeeeeee-longated barrage of pig sequels that is knowingly comedic but also compelling.

I'm pretty convinced that this is the best album Despised Icon have ever put out, and it might just be the best any other deathcore band have as well. I'd feel a lot more comfortable saying that if it weren't for the rather uneventful and unnecessary guest spot from Kublai Khan's Matt Honeycutt on "Over My Dead Body", especially when Marois and Erian absolutely outclass him. Dude's doing the rounds these days though, and other than that I can find little to fault about what is undoubtedly one of the best extreme outings of its year and genre, and arguably any other as well.