It takes quite a lot in the subgenre of deathcore to really excite me nowadays. Lorna Shore is such an example that never excited me, but I also never gave them a real listen before. Plagued by lineup changes, it is difficult to decide where to begin in their discography. Fortunately, a new full-length is out now entitled Pain Remains (Century Media) and this may be a great spot for any new listener to start their journey. This record provides nine tracks (the last three telling one story on their own) at just over the hour mark.

 

‘Sun//Eater’ starts off, like most of Pain Remains, with a full orchestration intro meant to pump you up before the rest of the instrumentation kicks in. Blast-beats galore, deep gutturals, high-end shrieks, and guitar riffs to round out the background orchestration really builds out the expectations of what to expect.

 

Then we roll right into ‘Cursed to Die’ which seems like the next chapter as there is no orchestration intro, instead the final riff of ‘Sun//Eater’ rolls into ‘Cursed to Die’. This level of story-telling Lorna Shore has created (and seen later, the ‘Pain Remains’ trilogy) is one of the more interesting approaches in modern day deathcore song/album structuring. Highlight of this track is the guitar solo through the outro which is a major climax on the entire record itself.

 

‘Apotheosis’ brings back the epic orchestration intro, this time with chanting to further spice it up. The chorus here has such a great contrast between high pitched guitar leads and the riffs that are able to coincide with the backing orchestration and together help elevate new vocalist, Will Ramos’ vocals to the forefront.

 

All in all, I was quite impressed with this iteration of Lorna Shore (with or without Ramos). My one comment is the length of this album (around an hour) seems too long as by the time I get halfway through the final act; I am pretty spent. Perhaps the last three tracks that make up that trilogy would have been better off as an EP? Other than that, I find myself looking into the band’s history as I look to experience the other eras of this group to see how the sound has evolved over the years.

Buy the album here: https://lornashorestore.com/

 

7 / 10

TIM LEDIN