EDM and metal collaborations have been one of the most underrated type of music for me, considering my love for EDM and dubstep in my younger days and my current love for modern metal. There have been a few solid ones here and there in the past few years, especially with Kayzo, PhaseOne and Sullivan King, but Shivering has them all beat by a huge margin for me.
Just the announcement alone got me super excited. Seeing two huge names from both genres, both of which I loved for their creativity and refined quality, putting together a track, felt like a dream. EDM and modern metal overlap more than you think, but I had a feeling these two artists would find a way to make it sound unique.
I love that they didn't have to compromise. Parts of the song are distinctly modern metalcore and Spiritbox, parts of the song are distinctly EDM, although the ILLENIUM influence is a bit different. Both sides got to explore quite a variety of soundscapes for a five minute song, with equal parts euphoric, melodic and hard-hitting. Their sonic fusion is blissfully overloaded with juxtaposed musical textures that somehow work well together.
It's clear they really did collaborate on this together, and it wasn't just split work. Both parties are present in just about every moment of the song. ILLENIUM's synth work in the intro leads into Spiritbox's pop-esque hard rock chorus, the overlayed screams subtly setting the tone. A mix of ILLENIUM's keyboard synthwork and Mike Stringer's ambient leads are woven throughout most of the track, giving that undeniably ethereal atmosphere. The interchangeable metal drums and EDM drum samples provide so much dynamic intensity, and their comfortability with using vocal effects here and there to spice up the song is fantastic.
The dubstep breakdown is without a doubt one of the best parts of the song. I haven't seen a song use bass drops this effectively in a long, long while, and not to mention Courtney dropping some solid screams on top of it. If I'm being honest, I was kind of caught off guard by it as it came right after the melodic drop, and it blew my mind away the first time I heard it. It still remains one of my favourite electronic moments in recent years, simply because of how good of an impression it made.
Their combination of pop, electronic, hard rock and metalcore elements makes this song a mixed bag of goods, but it's amazing how cohesive it feels, no doubt a mark of great musicians. There's a hint of subversion sprinkled throughout, but I'm inclined to think that they simply did not care about meeting expectations or vice versa, they just made what they wanted to make. I love their spirit of pushing boundaries and experimenting, it is something sorely needed in all arts, and both ILLENIUM and Spiritbox did their part in stepping out of each of their own comfort zones.
I'd be happy to see more collaborations between electronic artists and modern metal bands. I think the metalstep genre fusion has a lot of untapped potential, stifled by old mindsets of bands' live playing concerns, which is getting less relevant with the increase of electronic elements in modern metal music anyways. Shivering set a high bar for what could be, and I love everything about it.
Rating: 4/5
"ILLENIUM" Album Cover