Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you are probably aware of the band Lorna Shore. They took the internet by storm in 2021 with the release of their EP …And I Return to Nothingness, and have since been going from strength to strength. Armed with new bassist (and temporary live drummer) Michael Yager, the band are back with their new full-length album to melt everyone’s faces again.
“Welcome Back, O Sleeping Dreamer” opens proceedings and sets the tone for the entire album. Dark orchestral backing elements, guitar parts that are fast enough to power Concorde, drums that are heavy enough to sink a battleship and the vocal ferocity of Will Ramos combine to make a, well, insane opening track.
The three singles which been reacted to an insane number of times follow and all equally deliver the goods. I won’t dwell on them in this review as they’ve been out for long enough for you to have heard them. In the context of the album, they fit in perfectly and keep the momentum going.
Slowing the pace briefly, “Soulless Existence” takes a slightly more epic and mid-paced tack to the elements displayed already in the album. After the insanity of the previous four tracks, it makes for a nice ‘breather’ of sorts before the brutality of “Apotheosis” and following track “Wrath” smash in. Soaring minor melodies, hypersonic guitar riffs and the inhumane vocals of Will are all delivered by the shipping boat full. Seriously, these tracks are just insane.
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The “Pain Remains” trilogy then follows to round out the album and… wow. There’s been few tracks that have evoked such an emotional response as these did. Apathy, grief, emptiness, hope, despair, all of these are present. It’s rather hard to put into words what these tracks deliver. However, there is one clear thing the band, and I for that matter, wish to communicate in relation to these latter tracks. You are never alone, and help is just a phone call, conversation, or message away.
Whilst admittedly, this album will not be for everyone, what it does deliver it does so on such an exceptional level. This is not an album where the “Chug Chug Bree” formula is rinsed and repeated across every track. Each one is crafted to interlink to the next but also stand on its own feet. Is Pain Remains the best Lorna Shore album? Yes, and it’s quite possibly one of the best albums released this year.
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Pain Remains is released on October 14th via Century Media Records
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