Written by Zax
- Lorna Shore – …And I Return To Nothingness
- Blackened Deathcore from the United States
- Released on August 13th via Century Media Records
- 8/10
Man, my history with this band is dicey to say the least. I never thought their first vocalist Tom Barber was a good fit for them (despite him being directly responsible for the only good Chelsea Grin record) and I always found the instrumentals to be decent enough but fairly rudimentary. In 2018, Tom Barber left Lorna Shore and was replaced by CJ McCreery. I was previously a fan of CJ’s, so you’d think this could be where things turn around for them, right? Wrong. Literal weeks before the release of their album Immortal in early 2020, it was revealed that CJ was a scumbag predator. He was immediately kicked from the band, but myself and many others boycotted the record to avoid giving CJ proceeds. It was undoubtedly rough for the rest of the band, seeing all of their hard work soiled by some disgusting chode.
Now, Fast forward to 2021 and they’ve recruited the help of A Wake In Providence vocalist Will Ramos. I don’t know if you guys are familiar with A Wake In Providence, but they put out one of the best deathcore records of the last decade. My interest was piqued to say the least, and now that I’ve heard the new EP, I’m delighted to say that they actually hit it out of the park!
Blackened deathcore seems to be a bit of a contentious subgenre, with a lot of folks suggesting that most of it doesn’t lean far enough into actual black metal sensibilities. This EP is blackened in the sense that the production is a bit more gritty, the songs are more expansive, and there’s plenty of haunting symphonics filling out the tracks. The riffs fall into some icy atmospheric territory as well. Make of that what you will, but it definitely does the trick for me.
This is still unmistakably a deathcore project though, the breakdowns are completely monstrous. I mean they shake the fucking walls bro. On top of that, Will Ramos is a downright beastly vocalist. His high screams are brain-blasting and his gutturals are sickening. His performance was really something to behold. The percussion also hits very hard here.
The haunting choral vocals create a truly chilling atmosphere that lends the EP a very distinctive sound. There are parts where I think the symphonics could be mixed a bit better, but it’s a minor nit-pick.
This is a very short EP, but it gives me a lot of hope for the band’s future. I’m glad they’ve seemingly finally pulled things together, and I hope they continue to see the success this EP is bringing them.
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