I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me
Lorna Shore
Lorna Shore make a fairly serious commitment to excess on I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me. The title is long, the songs are large, and Will Ramos sounds capable of producing noises that should probably require a permit. The important question is what the band do with all that power.
Prison of Flesh gives the opening a personal weight. Its themes of dementia and fear sit inside a huge arrangement of riffs, orchestral sounds and harsh vocals. The playing is extreme, but there is a clear emotional reason for the intensity. That helps the song feel more substantial than a demonstration of technique.
Oblivion keeps the momentum going, shifting between frantic sections and more open, melancholic passages. The contrast is effective because both sides have enough space to register. Adam De Micco's guitar work gives the music a melodic shape even when the drums and vocals are at their most aggressive.
In Darkness puts more emphasis on groove, and War Machine pushes further in that direction. Those songs provide a useful change from the faster attacks. There's still plenty happening, but the riffs give you something solid to follow beneath the orchestration.
Lionheart is one of the clearest melodic statements, with a determined feel and guitar writing that suits the grand arrangement. At the other end, Death Can Take Me brings a much darker atmosphere. The album covers more emotional ground than its enormous sound might first suggest.
The risk is that every big moment has to compete with another one. A few breakdowns feel expected, and Glenwood doesn't always find enough resistance to all its dramatic weight. Lorna Shore are more gripping when the contrast inside the song is as strong as the sound itself.
Forevermore gives the ending a sense of acceptance that matters after so much conflict. This is demanding music, but it has purpose behind the scale. The strongest songs make the emotion and the technical playing feel equally important.
