“We only know how to burn the forest, stain the ocean.”
In recent years, we’ve seen meteoric ascension to the top of the metal food chain for some very deserving groups. 2021 resigned all glory to Spiritbox, 2022 belonged to Bad Omens, 2023 was owned by Sleep Token, and 2024 had Knocked Loose towering over everyone else. Yet perhaps more impressive and altogether surprising was Lorna Shore’s overshadowed rise to the semi-mainstream pantheon that incrementally transpired during this period. Having formed in 2009, their first decade in the industry was a prototypical modern deathcore career trajectory, despite having released several quality blackened and symphonic records. Come 2021, amidst a recent lineup change and the COVID-19 pandemic, Lorna Shore shook the very foundation of the metal scene with …And I Return To Nothingness. For what truly felt like the first time since the genre’s inception, all eyes and ears were firmly fixed upon the New Jersey titans, and deathcore by proxy. A year later, their monumental status was cemented with Pain Remains.
Much of what has transpired lately has felt like a marathon that Lorna Shore is already running through. Irrespective of people whose sole argument is to label them “djent”, Lorna Shore’s impact on not just deathcore, but metal in aggregate, cannot be contested, even microscopically. From playing Lollapalooza to debuting on the Billboard 200, Lorna Shore have become the undisputed face of deathcore. This inherently comes with a cutthroat territory; an expectation that, as the poster children of the genre, they continue to push every boundary of their sound and evolve. Whether or not Lorna Shore manages to do so on their latest entry, I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me, is frankly questionable.
Although Pain Remains ultimately received widespread acclaim, a consistent point of contention amongst many was the locked-down structure that practically every song seemed to follow. Symphonic intro, quick verses backed by sixty-fourth trigger kicks, momentum-shattering breakdowns, solo, key change ending, repeat. Whilst “Welcome Back, O’ Sleeping Dreamer” and the titular trilogy were welcomed deviations of this solidified auditory architecture, they nonetheless stood as sparse alterations amidst a predominantly uniform outing. Pain Remains undoubtedly had plenty of peaks, even if the high points of the record were admittedly one-note. It’s safe to assume Lorna Shore were still riding the flaming coattails of …And I Return To Nothingness. That being said, this one-trick pony mantra has unfortunately sustained and is even more omnipresent on I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me.
Many of the songs are overly drawn out and filled with symphonics for the sake of occupying space, with the near-ten-minute closing track “Forevermore” being the most frustrating instance. This may be a product of warped ambition, such that Lorna Shore continue to bite off more than they can chew and haphazardly attempt to spit out the overflow. This vicious cycle permeates on “Lionheart” and “A Nameless Hymn” as well, almost to a balking degree. If we somehow aren’t at that point already, Lorna Shore’s sound is treading volatile grounds in terms of variability. Anyone who isn’t fully invested in their current methodology will likely become bored rather quickly. This brand of deathcore is clearly appealing to many, otherwise Lorna Shore would not be in their current position. Yet what is equally apparent is that many had already begun growing tired of it with Pain Remains. While not in totality—see “War Machine” for superb melodeath influence—if you were expecting anything different this time around, you will find very little that sticks out.
Even so, this wouldn’t be a proper Lorna Shore record without some exemplary characteristics. The dialed-back production may be the most considerable aspect. Given the scale at which much of Lorna Shore’s music operates, overproduction has historically lightened the weight of their sonic delivery. “Less is more” gets thrown around often, and there may not be another band in the deathcore space that’s more befitting of this denomination than Lorna Shore. Regardless of how monotonous I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me may end up being for listeners, it is, at the very least, repetition that sounds phenomenal.
There’s always been an aura of cinematic epic that’s enshrouded Lorna Shore’s catalog. Once again, that does not change here. The symphonics of “Oblivion” and “Unbreakable” are foreboding and triumphant. Atmospherically, I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me is as exceptional as any of Lorna Shore’s previous iterations. It’s commendable yet disappointing that the symphonic facets of their music have tended to be more diverse than their raw instrumentals as of late, but for better or worse, that’s where we are.
The technical prowess of Adam De Micco, Austin Archey, Andrew O’Connor, and Mike Yager remains. Archey still hits the kit faster than the speed of light at sustained junctures and even offers a surprising half-tempo slowdown on “War Machine”. O’Connor and De Micco, but De Micco especially, are the stringing all-stars of this record. Between the soulful solo of “In Darkness” and De Micco’s masterful ability to set the ambient tone of “Glenwood”, there are glimpses of magnum opus-adjacent moments on I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me. It just so happens that these are sadly too few and far between to make for something enduringly engaging.
Understatement warning: Will Ramos is the best thing to happen to this band. His range is virtually limitless and is showcased in hellmouth spades on I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me. Here’s hoping Father Time doesn’t hit Ramos anytime soon, as he’s vocally stronger than he’s ever been. The flipside to all of this, to beat the tedious dead horse, is the fact that his reverberations are formulaically aligned with the established structure of the record. There are simply too many occurrences where we could have potentially heard the true extent of Ramos’ aptitude, but were held back by Lorna Shore’s pervasive insistence on following a strict blueprint.
Lorna Shore are and will continue to be deathcore’s top dogs for the foreseeable future. Every external circumstance is inconsequential. Skeptics will question their capacity for change; indulgers will keep berating others for being ambivalent in the first place. No matter what side of the aisle you stand on, Lorna Shore isn’t going anywhere. Why would they? They have found a working recipe and understand that many gravitate towards it. If there is any question to ask, given how I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me turned out, it’s this: How much longer can Lorna Shore realistically pull this off until even their most hardened supporters become either apathetic or flat-out sick of this unilateral means of execution? There are sporadic points in this album where shades of divergence are noticeable. Had those brief sections encompassed the entirety of I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me, there would be grounds for Lorna Shore’s best work on display here. Lorna Shore is objectively comprised of world-class musicians who are clearly capable of a lot more than this. While it’s hard to blame them for exhibiting this type of framework yet again, the jig may soon be up if they are too stubborn to venture outside of their entrenched comfort zone.
6/10
I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me releases on September 12th via Century Media Records and can be pre-ordered here.