“Even inside a dream, this world has no meaning.”
Lorna Shore’s rise to extreme metal stardom truly came out of left field for me. A band I’d been following for years upon years, by the time “To The Hellfire” propelled them to the now stadium-playing growth they’ve achieved I felt it was all a bit overdue. Of course, their road to eventual triumph has been one plagued by less than fortunate circumstances along the way, but it almost feels like all of those moments in some way led the band to being who they are today.
Following your breakout success is no easy task, though, and while it’s clear Lorna Shore hit a creative stride of sorts with …And I Return To Nothingness, the burden to follow it up with something that not only capitalizes on your momentum, but furthers its effectiveness. With Pain Remains, Lorna Shore certainly seem to have whittled down their sonic formula down to a T after years of toying with their sound, and while the avid breakdown-fanatics amongst the crowd may have plenty to sink their teeth into with this record, those looking for a more attentive listening experience may be left yearning for a tad more.
See, while Lorna Shore without a doubt prove they are one of, if not the very tightest band in all of heavy music, I can’t help but detect a level of contrivance in their sound here that I hadn’t quite seen to this extent in their music before. Pain Remains is largely a record of larger-than-life symphonic deathcore ragers, replete with some of the most insane performances – from drummer Austin Archey and vocalist Will Ramos in particular – one can source in the broader world of metal. But. as the hour-long runtime of the record ticks by, a sense of repetition begins to grate on me.
It almost feels like the band are trying a little too hard to literally follow on from the success from “To The Hellfire”, as almost every one of the songs here follows a suspiciously similar structure. Almost every single track consists of some form of an orchestral intro, quickly moving to a speedy blasting verse, a fast and grandiose chorus, all bookended by a big sludgy breakdown into a melodic drop out, then repeat. It’s certainly not the worst formula to rely on that I’ve ever heard, but it still left me scratching my head a bit after each consecutive listen. What’s more disappointing in this regard is that when the album breaks that dreaded formula, it truly shines, and shows what possibly could have been given some more attention to bolstering dynamics in songwriting.
However, I would like to state for the record that while these criticisms seem to dig at the album pretty heavily, my opinion of Pain Remains remains largely a positive one. For one, opener “Welcome Back, O Sleeping Dreamer” may just be my favourite song this band has ever made. From its suspenseful intro to its djenty breakdown at the two minute mark, this band have never crafted such a striking introduction before. Further, the album’s three-act closer and title track “Pain Remains”, totaling a whopping 20 minutes in length, proves to contain much of the dynamic nature I was left longing for on much of the album, feeling like an appropriately grandiose conclusion to an equally grandiose record. Additionally, the emotive lyricism and fantastic vocal performance from Ramos is truly something to behold not only here, but on the album as a whole. Without a shadow of a doubt, Ramos is the perfect frontman for Lorna Shore, providing one of the most jaw-dropping vocal performances I’ve ever heard on a metal record.
However, the lack of a true push-and-pull, or much in the way of contrasting dynamics outside of fast heavy bit and slow heavy bit in the instrumental work for the record left me feeling a bit deflated. Austin Archey is without a doubt one of the best drummers in the world, and his performance is air-tight, but the constant dependence on frantic double kick rolls and hyper-speed blasting begins to incrementally less and less special when it’s relied on quite this heavily.
All in all though, I believe Lorna Shore’s story will go down as one of the greatest triumphs in the face of adversity that the music world has ever seen. While I have my gripes with Pain Remains’ structure, it’s undeniable that the musicianship on display here is nothing short of stellar. A heightened emphasis on dynamics would have truly elevated this album to the next level, but as it stands, what the New Jersey deathcore titans have crafted here is impressive.
8/10
Pain Remains will be available this Friday, October 14th via Century Media, and you can pre-order the record here.