Flesh Coffin
Flesh Coffin gives Lorna Shore's deathcore a clearer melodic and symphonic character. The band continue playing quickly and extremely heavily, but use the additional layers to create more tension. Guitars provide more than weight: leads and colder melodies also determine the music's movement.
Offering of Fire begins with a threatening build before drums and guitars erupt. The technical playing is immediately convincing. Fast riffs, harsh vocals and heavily slowed passages follow one another without losing precision. It also reveals a limitation: the sequence of attacks lasts longer than the ideas always need.
FVNERAL MOON distributes that force more carefully. Heavily accented sections stay short enough to retain their effect before a solo or fresh riff restores the speed. This gives the music greater drive than a structure which only works towards its next slower section.
The//Watcher gives symphonic and black-metal-like sounds more room. Melodies make the song memorable without removing its fierce surface. Keyboards contribute to the atmosphere but never determine every detail. It shows how the different influences can create something convincing together.
The whole record never quite maintains that level of distinction. Vocals often return to the same contrast between high and low sounds, and sustained pressure makes some songs blend into one another. Flesh Coffin remains a significant step in the writing, however. Its best passages use dynamics and melody to strengthen the extreme sound. Lorna Shore already have the materials for a distinctive approach firmly in hand. The carefully placed changes provide the strongest moments, giving the music a direction beyond its considerable speed and weight.
