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Sins of Shadows is a French band, and their 2023 album Imperium is their second full-length effort. Musically, they work from a traditional metal foundation with some good riffing and occasional blood-pumping speed, but they also work in the slower tempo realms as well, so the album has a sense of ebb and flow as they mix things up effectively. "Rise" is a good example of a straight-to-the-point stomper while "Imperium" takes a more galloping approach to support what are probably the catchiest vocals on the album. Sins of Shadows use echo and effects on the guitars to give songs like "Ordinary Men" an epic vibe which also carries over into some of the slower cuts like "In Silence" and "My Empire," which slot into an epic/doom space. They finish up the album with the introspective and contemplative "The Sands of Time" sung by Croatian vocalist Vedrolina, who sounds a bit like Autumn’s Marjan Welman. I wish the album had more songs where she is featured, not only because I like her singing but because the male vocals, while strong, have a bit of a warble and the singer is overselling the emotion at times. The songwriting has its highs ("The Sands of Time", "Imperium"), but in other spots is not overly memorable making Imperium a solid album, especially if your tastes run from Visigoth to Solitude Aeturnus, but not a game changer.