Lorna Shore – "I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me"

It's official: The breakdown is the bass drop of metal

Much has been said about Lorna Shore – and rightly so. Whether you like them or not, there's no denying that they're a blindingly professional outfit, or that they're stretching the boundaries of that whole "deathcore" thing. For someone like me – or anyone else who's primarily into actual heavy metal – that whole "deathcore" thing isn't a very gratifying expression, though. In my experience – which, by the way, includes watching a Suicide Silence concert in 2014 – the musicians are blinding, but the songwriting formula (if you can even call it songwriting) is predictable.

However, I have been – and still am – impressed with especially LS vocalist Will Ramos, and I did hear one track of theirs which seemed to defy that standard deathcore template. So I'll give 'em a fair trial.

It seems like opener "Prison of Flesh" from their newest LP encompasses everything that the band does. An ominous swell escalates into an apocalyptic blast beat explosion. You can hear that there's some perfectly hysterical riffing going on, but the drums and the many synth layers are virtually drowning out the rhythm guitar. Pretty early for a detractor in that caliber.

The whole thing's still brutal as shit, though. Ramos interchanges between a deep, primal growl and a throaty goblin snarl. Hell, sometimes they're simultaneous, but that would be the wonders of studio production doing their thing. In any case, the lyrics are near-impossible to decipher. The only tangible element, then, is when aforementioned synths are playing a theme during the chorus. The symphonic element reminds me of a band like Fleshgod Apocalypse.

In a genre that's supposed to be riff-based, though (i.e., metal), the fact that the guitar gets more than halfway drowned is too big of a problem. But of course, you can hear it during the solo section, where it does everything by every rule of the book: Sweeps, tapping, arpeggios, everything. And of course, you can hear it pounding the deepest possible chord during that inescapable deathcore staple: The BREAKDOWN. Yeah, gotta have some of those, because those are really HEAVY, and then people will know we're a metal band. Because, y'know, heavy.

And you gotta hand it to 'em: It IS heavy as fuck. In fact, it sounds like some of those deepest strings are being somehow locally down-tuned for the breakdown, and at this point, you can almost sense them vibrating so slowly that they're hardly playing notes anymore. There's something in the very recording that's distorting, and it's on purpose. And of course, it's one of those breakdowns that's slower than just half-time. And of course, it's also one of those breakdowns that goes into an even lower tempo midway through. Yeeeeeeah,

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And this happens in virtually EVERY. SINGLE. FUCKING. SONG here. Which is exactly what I meant when I mentioned the "standard deathcore template" before. Only these breakdowns are much slower than what you'd otherwise hear in the genre, and they always take place in a lower key so as to emphasize how totally DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP and HÖÖÖÖAVYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY things totally are. And that totally keeps on being interesting every single time. No, totally.

Sarcasm aside, I also did mean it – and I stand by it – when I said that LS are a blindingly professional outfit, and that they are stretching the boundaries of "deathcore". Their sound is huge. They're incorporating elements from several subgenres, and all else being equal, it's cool to hear someone get creative with the genres – someone who's even able to play their instruments.

The riffs that I'm hearing are cool, but the riff is supposed to be CENTRAL in metal; not jumbled in with everything else. The band's technical skills are awesome, but they're not playing anything memorable.

Apart from those constant fucking breakdowns traversing the distance from 'predictable' to 'exhausting' during less than the course of the album, then – and apart from aforementioned guitar being way too low in the mix – the biggest problem here is that I'm virtually remembering nothing here. Apart from some of the themes which actually kinda stick, everything is a bit of a chaos of layer-upon-layer, only either there's a least a coupla layers too many, or the production is way too over-compressed. Oh, wait, is that an even bigger problem than the lack of memorability?

Look, I'm trying here, you guys. I'm trying to be open towards what is allegedly the new face of metal. But if this is metal, where are the goddamn riffs? Oh yeah, that's right, they're halfway drowning in that shitty production I was just on about. Also, I do realize that the chaotic aspect of the music is kinda the point. That just doesn't mean that the cacophony is very inspiring or even very well done. Whereas other symphonic extreme metal bands – say, apart from aforementioned Fleshgod Apocalypse, SepticFlesh, Bal-Sagoth, Emperor, or Cradle of Filth – know how to employ some actual goddamn space in their songs so as to emphasize and support the symphonic elements even further, LS seem like they lack that same discipline. Except, of course, when they do it during those incessant fucking

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One track (not really song) that I consider superior to the others is "Lionheart", its orchestral elements and tonality being a near-perfect fusion of black metal and power metal. That theme is perfectly bangin', and it fits perfect on top of the cadence. And yes, that's also a thing here: In the midst of the over-compressed, cacophonous soundscape, LS, in fact, avail themselves of some pretty easily recognizable chord sequences. In fact, perhaps that's part of the reason they've gotten so relatively popular.

In "Glenwood", however, this also includes one particular series of four chords with which I have long just fucking had it: The iv-VI-I-V progression ("six, four, one, five"). I mentioned this chord cycle in my review of the latest Ghost album, because Tobias Forge uses this particular progression in no less than THREE different songs on that one. I mentioned it in my review of the last Primal Fear album because they also went there. But here and now, we're dealing with a supposedly extreme metal band, but THEY'RE PLAYING JOAN FUCKING OSBORNE.

Look, I don't care how extreme the music is: If and when I can sit and sing "One of Us" and have it fit perfectly on top of the (same) chords, I'm being taken for a ride. So during my final pre-review spin, I conveniently skip this song – even though it's the ONE song on here that doesn't have a breakdown.

I do realize that the chaotic aspect of the music is kinda the point. That just doesn't mean that the cacophony is very inspiring or even very well done.

Past midway, then, things keep on being equally extreme and impressive on one hand, and predictable and exhausting on the other. LS are doing several things in exactly the right way, and, they do manage to create their own spin on the subgenre, so they CAN be said to have something resembling a personality. And family-friendly chord progressions aside, they couldn't be said to pamper towards anyone but metalheads…

… Or, could they? In fact, couldn't that fucking breakdown rightly be called the bass drop of metal? And wasn't Slipknot – another popular 21st-century metal band – also pretty extreme when they came out? Wasn't "Iowa" (2001) the first mainstream metal album to feature a blastbeat? And yes, I do like Slipknot, but you know why? It's because, apart from kicking ass, they actually write songs that you can fucking REMEMBER.

And yes, again, I realize that's probably not quite the point here, this being allegedly extreme and all. And during "Death Can Take Me" and "War Machine", I'm actually hearing some fucking riffing. See, how hard was that? (Very, it seems.) But at this point, past midway, my interest is gradually dwindling. The riffs that I'm hearing are cool, but the riff is supposed to be CENTRAL in metal; not jumbled in with everything else. The band's technical skills are awesome, but they're not playing anything memorable. The burping, gargling, and snarling growls are loveable, but they're being employed in a setting that's just as formulaic as a lot of music I'm trying to avoid on a daily basis.

And can you guess what happens during album closer "Forevermore"? Yes, yes, of course there's another breakdown, and of course it's just, like, totally deep and heavy and all that. But that's not what I'm thinking of. Because on top of all the predictability, LS, shamelessly whip out that fucking iv-VI-I-V progression again. Yeah, THAT'S creativity. Perhaps this time I'll sing "Save Tonight" on top of it!

... No, though. During this aforementioned final pre-review spin, I conveniently skip this one at a natural pause around the six-minute mark as well. Also, this will spare me from having to sit through yet another one of those ceaseless

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Seriously, guys, it's getting ridiculous. It was cool when Pantera and Machine Head did it in the '90s, because it was new, fresh, mesmerizing, and ground-breaking. But even 20 fucking years ago, I recall standing at a Caliban show and eventually being able to count down to the breakdowns. And eventually laughing, rolling my eyes, and leaving the show for that very same reason.

And today, the breakdown is simply the bass drop of metal.

Rating: 3 out of 6

Genre: "Deathcore"
Release date: 12/9/2025
Label: Century Media
Producer: Josh Schroeder