Lorna Shore – Pain Remains (Review)

This is the fourth album from US blackened deathcore band Lorna Shore.

Pain Remains offers a well-crafted 61 minutes of modern professional deathcore. Ambitious in scope, but superlative in execution, Pain Remains is epic, brutal, and atmospheric, probably about in equal measure.

Blast beats, breakdowns, guitar solos, and synths. Deathcore, symphonic black metal, and melodic death metal, smashed together and delivered with modern energy and enthusiasm. It might sound, on paper, pretty standard for the style, but Lorna Shore put these parts to exceptional good use across these ten tracks.

Despite how professional and polished this undoubtedly is, there is a raw aggression here that’s refreshing. Add to this an emotive layering that’s missing from many ostensibly similar acts and you have a band that are definitely greater than the sum of their parts. Deathcore, or indeed blackened deathcore, certainly does a perfectly adequate job of describing Pain Remains, but the reality is more multifaceted and wide-ranging than that. This is an extreme metal album that rages and crushes with physical presence and emotive weight.

The music is dark and brutally heavy. It’s enriched with symphonic enhancements and has a blackened streak that’s equal parts majestic and vicious. As well as this Lorna Shore are unafraid to delve into their more emotive side, offering a deeper emotional aspect to the music in places that’s quite compelling. The last three songs, a full 20 minutes of the record, benefit from this approach especially.

The well-written songs are exemplars of blackened deathcore brutality and savage heaviness. Rich in menacing atmosphere and resplendent in blackened malevolence, the music draws the listener in with textured extreme metal that feels very well-rounded and complete. Lorna Shore have hooks and catchiness aplenty, but much of the music relies on sheer atmospheric potency, and Pain Remains is nothing if not aggressively atmospheric.

If you remain unmoved by the contemporary deathcore style that’s enhanced with blackened and symphonic elements, then I’d still heartily recommend checking out Pain Remains, as Lorna Shore have produced a cracking record.

Essential listening for any fan of contemporary blackened deathcore and extreme metal.