Label - Century Media Records
Release Date - 14th October 2022
Words - Tony Bliss
With the rapid and somewhat unexpected rise of Lorna Shore in recent months placing them at the forefront of an ever-fertile deathcore scene, it is easy to forget that the band have been plugging away under the radar for over a decade. Indeed, after weathering the storm of constant line-up changes and a revolving-door frontman situation, 2020’s Immortal (some further inner band turmoil notwithstanding) was a record of such quality that it is fair to say the seeds were sown for something truly special even before the preposterously talented Will Ramos joined their ranks. However, with his revelatory pipes in tow and the viral breakout success of their monstrous signature tune ‘To The Hellfire’, it was clear to long-time fans and newcomers alike that the New Jersey natives had levelled up and then some. This new era ushered in and with the spotlight shining brighter than ever, Pain Remains arrives with expectations understandably skyscraper high.
In truth, there is plenty of precedent for what Lorna Shore do, with everyone from Cradle Of Filth and Dimmu Borgir to Bleeding Through and WInds Of Plague embracing all things gothic and cinematic, yet there is a fluidity and sense of structural know-how to these ten tracks that, quite simply, most other bands of their ilk just cannot compete with. Opener ‘Welcome Back, O Sleeping Dreamer’ simmers and bubbles with choral drama, gradually layering the tension before the band slam into fifth gear, that blast ‘n’ breakdown approach in full effect as Ramos seemingly devours the mic like an enraged warthog. As opening statements go, it’s quite something.
Recent singles ‘Into The Earth, ‘SunEater’ and ‘Cursed To Die’ are all straight-up winners, every second embellished with tinkering keys, surging strings and all manner of atmospheric and (occasionally) industrial touches that enhance and re-tool these songs to such an extent that Lorna Shore may have shaken the deathcore tag altogether, with shriek along choruses at every turn and an almost (whisper it) power metal sense of guitar-led melodrama ramming home the fact that this band have ambitions far beyond their peers. Look no further than the album's unholy triumvirate, a twenty-minute title track divided into three movements; ‘Part I: Dancing Like Flames’, ‘Part II: After I’ve Done, I’ll Disappear' and ‘Part III: In A Sea Of Fire’, which take in everything from moody, synth-led detours, windswept melodeath, spoken word respites and the sort tech-death chops / six-strings histrionics that would have even the most seasoned extreme metal shredders fleeing back to the woodshed.
Fret not, however, this is still devastating stuff, with the likes of ‘Apotheosis’ threatening to crack the earth's mantle as the band devolve into club-swinging sadists - those gutter-spew vocals sounding somewhat akin to retching up your own pelvis bone - before ‘Wrath’ also provides multiple instances of heroic nastiness (check out that closing breakdown for Ramos once again trying to eject a demon from his very soul via some herculean snorting and screeching). Granted there may be nothing here that matches the lightning-in-a-bottle, ‘holy shit’ impact of ‘...Hellfire’, and nor should there be. Pain Remains is the sort of multi-textured experience built to be consumed in one gluttonous whole, an emotional rush of interconnected dynamics that despite being over an hour in length flies by like a squawking raven. Now squarely in their own category of one, Lorna Shore are no longer mere deathcore darlings - on this evidence, they are aiming much higher than that.
9/10
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