ALBUM REVIEW: Pain Remains – Lorna Shore
During the darkest days of the pandemic, bands that rode the wave of viral boom reaped the rewards whilst live shows and festivals were cancelled aplenty. Just as SPIRITBOX established themselves as a genuine metal heavyweight through Holy Roller, LORNA SHORE took the online space by storm. To The Hellfire spawned a tsunami of reaction videos to the band’s potency for a bludgeoning breakdown and Will Ramos‘ ungodly vocal range, and now, flash forward to a post-pandemic era and LORNA SHORE are poised to assert their dominance with Pain Remains. With the wind in their collective sails following …And I Return To Nothingness and successful live outings at Bloodstock and supporting PARKWAY DRIVE, does their new album cement the band at the forefront of deathcore’s ongoing resurgence?
Yes, yes it does. Pain Remains is a symphonic-meets-deathcore masterclass of metal that showcases just why LORNA SHORE are one of the most talked about bands in heavy music today. Opener Welcome back, O Sleeping Dreamer sets the tone with aplomb as a cacophony of symphonic elements bleeds effortlessly with the blistering work of guitarists Adam De Micco and Andrew O’ Connor, and Ramos effortlessly displays his trademark gutturals and shrieks to wonderous effect. It’s a grand opener and for anyone who has perused YouTube reaction videos to their previous material, you’ll be instantly satisfied.
From there, as Pain Remains continues unfold, LORNA SHORE continue to impress, showcasing just why they are spearheading the ongoing resurgence of deathcore. Into The Earth boasts the band’s more tech-deathy elements as copious amounts of guitar shred, a pulverising display of crushing breakdowns, especially in the song’s closing moments, and effortless drum fills pummel the ears to astonishing effort. Sun//Eater feels like FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY and THE FACELESS created some absurd abomination, injected with an abundance of steroids, as it relentlessly smashes you into oblivion through a medley of down-tempo aggression and soaring soloing, and Cursed To Die continues to cement itself as a staple in the band’s repertoire as the blackened symphony compliments the metallic elements to devilish effect.
It’s not all shock and awe though; the devil is very much in the detail with Pain Remains and that is what shows that LORNA SHORE are such a cutting edge band within deathcore. Soulless Existence ebbs and flows from riffy melodies and refrained symphonies that are pleasing upon the ear to rapid metallic blasts, showcasing the band’s unpredictability for song structure, and Wrath snarls with a malicious blackened intent as the band’s amalgamation of black metal and deathcore is pushed to the forefront.
But where LORNA SHORE truly shine on this record is the Pain Remains trilogy. Akin to THE FACELESS‘ timeless Autotheist movements, this trilogy of songs showcases the band at their very best. Part one (Dancing Like Flames) allows the subtle synths to breathe before unfolding into a breathtaking blast of riffs whilst soaring like a phoenix emerging from the ashes; part two (After All I’ve Done, I’ll Disappear), picks up right from the kick off of its predecessor with dizzying riffs and obscene gutturals from Ramos; and part three (In A Sea Of Fire) is a stunning swansong to the record as it delivers on final bout of aural brutality.
With Pain Remains, LORNA SHORE have straddled the online hype and delivered a record that not only exceeds the surge of reaction videos, but cements the band as the flagbearers for modern deathcore. Expansive, technical and utterly monstrous, Pain Remains is the face of deathcore in 2022 and showcases a band more than ready to lead the frontline.
Rating: 9/10
Pain Remains is set for release on October 14th via Century Media Records.
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