Lorna Shore “Pain Remains” Album Review

Pain Remains

Lorna Shore

• • Genre: Metal
  • Date: 14 Oct, 2022
  • Content: explicit
  • Region: USA
  • Track(s): 10

• ℗ 2022 Century Media Records Ltd. under exclusive license from Lorna Shore

With “Pain Remains,” Lorna Shore successfully navigated the web buzz and produced a record that not only outperformed the influx of reaction videos but also established the group as the leading representatives of contemporary deathcore. Pain Remains is the face of deathcore in 2022 and demonstrates a band that is more than prepared to lead the frontline. It is expansive, technical, and completely monstrous.

The songs are strong, emotional, and honest right away. As the instruments behind are examined to within an inch of their lifespan, the samples that have been selected are exquisite and correctly positioned. The new voices are spot on, and the blast beats are debilitating. With “Pain Remains,” Lorna Shore, who three years ago didn’t even know whether they had a future, has cemented their place as one of the bands that will advance real heavy music. Listen to them roar!

Album Cover Art

A hand wielding a short knife that appears dangerously sharp can be seen on the album’s cover art. What is more striking, though, is what the hand is about to do with the knife. The wielder of the knife holds it up to the neck region (telling from the falling hair) and seems ready to make that one deciding cut. The cut that cuts life short.

Tracks and Features

“Welcome back, O Sleeping Dreamer,” the album’s opening track, establishes the mood with panache as a cacophony of symphonic elements bleeds seamlessly with the scorching work of guitarists Adam De Micco and Andrew O’Connor. Ramos also deftly employs his signature gutturals and shrieks to wonderful effect. Anyone who has watched YouTube reaction videos to their previous work will be immediately satisfied. It’s a grand opener.

“Into The Earth” showcases the group’s more tech-deathy features as it is filled with voluminous amounts of guitar shredding, a pulverizing display of crushing breakdowns, especially in the song’s closing seconds, and effortless drum fills that bludgeon the ears to astonishing effort. Through a combination of down-tempo ferocity and soaring soloing, “Sun/Eater” relentlessly smashes you into oblivion, and “Cursed To Die” continues to establish itself as a staple in the band’s repertoire as the blackened symphony complements the metallic elements to devilish effect.

The band’s unpredictability for song structure is demonstrated by “Soulless Existence,” which ebbs and flows from riffy melodies and restrained symphonies to rapid metallic blasts. “Wrath,” meanwhile, snarls with a malicious blackened intent as the band’s fusion of black metal and deathcore is brought to the fore. A nine-minute closing act that encapsulates everything Lorna Shore have improved on makes up the final three-part title track, which clocks in at almost 20 minutes.

“Dancing Like Flames” gives the understated synths room to breathe before exploding into an incredible storm of riffs and rising like a phoenix from the ashes. With spinning riffs and disgusting gutturals from Ramos, “After All I’ve Done, I’ll Disappear” picks up right where its predecessor left off, while “In A Sea Of Fire” is an incredible farewell to the album as it delivers on its final bout of sonic cruelty. The whole project is well worth the hype and tremendous anticipation it has attracted in the run-up to its release.

Tracklist

NO	TITLE	TIME
1	Welcome Back, O’ Sleeping Dreamer	7:21
2	Into the Earth	5:12
3	Sun//Eater	6:10
4	Cursed to Die	4:40
5	Soulless Existence	7:12
6	Apotheosis	4:54
7	Wrath	4:57
8	Pain Remains I: Dancing Like Flames	5:52
9	Pain Remains II: After All I’ve Done, I’ll Disappear	5:36
10	Pain Remains III: In a Sea of Fire	9:11

Album Theme

With the release of “Pain Remains,” the band has continued to push the boundaries of the genre they consider their own. The new album is a compelling release that blends dense, dark black metal with a bold symphonic deathcore foundation that is robust and laden with technicality, sludge, and languishing aggression. Also, the trilogy of songs on the album take the listener on a journey through sorrow, loss, and grief.

Production Credits

Josh Schroeder solely took care of the album’s production.

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