Review Summary: I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.
Fine. I'll say it.
This is bad. Because it's the same.
Which means: this is actually a pretty good album. But it is truly as close to
Pain Remains Again as it could be.
I came across Lorna Shore with the release of 2020's
Immortal.
Immortal represents a new era for Lorna, because of an evolution of instrumentation as well as the addition of a new vocalist. I was re-entering the deathcore scene when
Immortal came out and was extremely unfamiliar with the symphonic additions to deathcore at that time. I found
Immortal to be a doorway into a new sound; a style that I was immediately enamored with.
Then comes
...And I Return to Nothingness: a perfect EP. It introduces us to Will Ramos in the context of Lorna Shore and showcases the evolution of Lorna's symphonic and choral additions to the blown-out, hyperproduced deathcore sound. I thought, and still think, this EP is a 5.
Then comes
Pain Remains, which is functionally perfect except for the length of the record. I found lyricism to be compelling and emotional at times throughout the record. I found the concept of the entire record to be extremely interesting. I enjoyed what guitarist Adam De Micco brought to the table and the way that the band layered in orchestral elements to a punishing arrangement. I did not enjoy the 61 minute runtime that it demands, but at the same time, I felt the record deserved that space to explore.
So I hesitantly say that I love Lorna Shore's most recent releases. And
I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me is not a departure from their established sound. In fact, it's not even a step down in any way. But, here's the problem.
It's not a step up either. It's not a lateral move. It's the same.
There are brief bright spots on the album, like "Glenwood". I like the clean, finger-plucked guitar chords in the introduction and I like the melody that slides over the chords. Of course, the rest of the song sounds like any other song off of
Pain Remains (complete with the key change chorus at the close), with occasional callbacks to that introduction progression.
I also like the tension-building provided by the backing quartet strings on "A Nameless Hymn", which brandishes some uniquely freakish and shrill howls from Ramos to cut through the mix. Similar anxiety-inducing soundscapes appear on the single and lead-off track "Prison of Flesh", but that's all that differentiates it from many of the tracks that follow it on this LP.
That being said, as the album plods along through the mud, "War Machine" can't help but perk your ears up. With a chunky bass riff leading into some gunfire, the intro diverges from the formula. For Lorna, what follows is a bit of an experiment, a slight step away from the monotony. This song sounds pissed and driven. It has chugs-on-the-prowl-for-prey, a unique solo, and an obnoxious (read: a hell yea) breakdown. If I had to pick one song to say "I wish the rest of the record sounded like this", it would be "War Machine".
The closer "Forevermore" also dances into slightly differentiated sonic territory, with a wavering and foreboding vocal melody and triumphant orchestral sounds in the introduction. It's a great closer for any album, but I wouldn't say that it necessarily would feel out of place on their previous LP.
In contrast, tracks like "In Darkness" and "Unbreakable" follow the template that was hammered out in 2021 and 2022. "In Darkness" mimics the aforementioned multi-key change chorus made famous on "Pain Remains II". A multi-key change outro feels emotional and cinematic when
Pain Remains as a whole is coming to a close and the lyrical finality is setting in. When it's placed in track 3, it feels hollow. I wonder "What are we rising up from? What is the lyrical or emotional climax that we are witnessing here?" and left wondering.
The hypnagogic-jerk-inducing 1-2 combo of "Lionheart" and "Death Can Take Me" truly represent
Pain Remains B-Sides. There's no
there there with these tracks, save slight choral additions to break up the break-neck pace of De Micco and company's recycled "verse riffs".
There are also a ton of reused musical motifs or themes throughout this record. Guitar riffs and chugs could be blindly swapped between the two records and none would be the wiser to that slight of hand. It's to the point that I'm thinking about articulations of riffs and thinking "pretty sure this same pattern was used on
Pain Remains". I'm not smart enough to be thinking about that kind of thing.
Related to things I shouldn't have an opinion about, I'm usually not one to comment assertively on the mix or production of a record because I don't feel like I'm qualified. However, it is impossible to talk about this record without pointing out the blasts and bass drops and the perception of the song "clipping". It's unavoidable when every song has multiple instances of these psuedo-deafening blasts. This also creates a false sense of dynamic range to me; the loudest parts are not actually the loudest parts because the bass drops tower over them.
With these criticisms that I'm levying against a band whose work I truly enjoy, from
Psalms to
Flesh Coffin to
Immortal to
Pain Remains, it is with a heavy heart that I say that this record is letdown. Lorna toured on
Pain Remains for roughly 3 years. In my own mind, the hype has continued to mount exponentially since
Pain Remains. Maybe it would have been impossible to satisfy the hype that I built up for
I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me.
Anything that I get from this album going forward could be chalked up to psychological familiarity. That which is familiar is predictable, safe, and comforting.
I Feel The Everblack... might grow on me because of that. Perhaps I will recognize that it is a more refined version of
Pain Remains, and that fact would earn some credit. Maybe there will be lyrics that truly capture me along the way.
What time and familiarity won't change is that
I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me could have been so much more.
