Written by vocalist Oliver Sykes, guitarist Lee Malia and keyboardist Jordan Fish, it was produced by Terry Date and featured on the band's 2013 fourth studio album Sempiternal.

The track is named after the main setting of the 1998 video game Metal Gear Solid, the closing theme of which is referenced in the song's opening vocal line.

"Shadow Moses" received its worldwide premiere on BBC Radio 1's Rock Show with Daniel P. Carter on 4 January 2013, before it was released as the lead single from Sempiternal the following week in the form of a digital download.

[1] Due to the popularity of the song, the band's North American label Epitaph Records uploaded it to their YouTube channel a week earlier than they had planned.

[9] Childers described the musical style of "Shadow Moses" as featuring "the requisite force, aggression and driving guitar work that one would expect from Bring Me the Horizon, along with a chorus that's incredibly infectious".

[12] Reception to the video was positive – Loudwire's Chad Childers described it as "unique", "striking" and "eye-catching",[13] while Marc Zanotti of Music Feeds praised it for "capturing the single's aggressive energy".

Artistdirect's Rick Florino awarded the song 4.5 out of 5 stars, proclaiming that it "rips and stomps with a laser-sighted precision that undeniably hits the mark over and over again".

[15] PopMatters writer Dean Brown dubbed it "one of Sempiternal's heaviest additions", praising guitarist Lee Malia's "Slipknot-esque riffs" and frontman Oliver Sykes's vocals.