My Review of Lorna Shore - Pain Remains
Major Trigger Warning: Suicide, Death, Loss
This is the first entry of deathcore to my reviews, I am not a deathcore listener, I just love music. I went into this with an completely open mind. This Album is not for the faint of heart.
First of all we need to address the first 7 tracks of the album before getting into the Pain Remains Trilogy, which i could write an entire essay on alone. I usually give my entire thoughts and then breakdown singular tracks but this one needs to be broken down track by track.
Pain Remains captures the eternal struggle of major depression alongside suicidal thoughts resulting from loss via beautiful gut-wrenching vocals from the Will Ramos himself, alongside the most gorgeous production I have ever had the pleasure of hearing.
Starting of with Welcome Back, O' Sleeping Dreamer, a 7 minute long deathcore masterpiece. It starts of with slow, heavy, impactful drums alongside a slow choir, picking up the guitar at the 1 minute mark. All of the build-up crescendos into a heavy breakdown with absolutely gut-wrenching deathcore vocals. The lyrics alone are beautifully written let so incredibly powerful (a theme that we will see a lot on this album). The production is incredible, the vocals are astonishing. There is not much more to say to this piece, it is a wonderful entrance and sets the tone perfectly to the album.
Track 2: Following Welcome Back, O' Sleeping Dreamer is Into the Earth, it starts of with an almost angelic choir cut off immediately with extremely heavy vocals and extremely fast paced drums. It continues the themes of humans being celestial beings that Welcome Back, O' Sleeping Dreamer set. The angelic choir comes back into the track at around 2 minutes and sets such a beautiful contrast to the demonic vocals of Will. A incredible second track to the Album.
Track 3: Sun//Eater follows the very known myth of Icarus. I like to think of Sun//Eater as being the embodiment of what Icarus would've become. As the lyrics state "Omnipotent, I am the one. Icarus, I'll touch the sun. Omnipotent. Icarus, I'll eat the sun." The lyrics on track 3 are beautiful and I want to highlight a few of them. "These Fragile wings will touch the sky and paint the world in black and white". "Bring forth the cleansing fires of rebirth, recreating my image within the paradoxical." "Burn in the embers of my fevered heart, Witness my omnipotence. Cursed judgement, devoid of this flesh, bring for my affinity. I am the omnipotent being."
Track 4: Cursed to Die continues the theme of celestial beings and the destruction they are capable of. Alongside the thoughts of what happens to us once be pass. Will states "My legacy will live on but is it enough to satisfy?" a line I think a lot of people can relate to. "We play the same keys in different times, it's in our nature to die. Powerless to the forces outside of our reach." "I'm nothing but a man within a dream". Will brings these lyrics across in such a powerful heavy tone. One of my favorites on the album easily. The guitar solo is absolutely incredible and deserves to be mentioned.
Track 5: Soulless Existence another 7 minute long heavymetal/deathcore piece, it starts of a lot slower than the previous tracks. The production is a lot more "calm" compared to the rest of the tracks. It is still astonishingly heavy and a lot more deathcore than usual heavymetal. I love this track, its a perfect comedown from the first 4 tracks. Beautifully produced alongside Will Ramos's heartbreaking vocals.
Track 6: Apotheosis starts off with a beautiful choir that is immediately followed by heavy fast drums and heavy vocals as the rest of the band comes in. It follows the topic of death and despair, portrayed by lyrics like "Numb my pain all i know is suffering, one foot in the grave, bury the hatchet, another nail in the casket". The choir continues in the background and its a simple but powerful addition to the song. I sound like a broken record but the production is once again absolutely insane. A heavy, powerful, shorter at 4 minutes and 54 seconds piece that is still deathcore to its heart.
Track 7: Wrath. Wrath continues the theme of death and reincarnation. Lyrics like "There's no pain it ends the same. I've fallen like a cursed angel, beginnings ignite the sky" and "Fall now like ash before me, devoured by the sea. Fill the hole in my chest I have manifested. behold the new King" are absolute heavy impactful lyrics that feel like a punch in the gut. The shouting angelic sounding background vocals that follow the behold the new King line are absolutely beautiful and a perfect addition to the track. Absolutely incredible track.
Now we come into the Pain Remains Trilogy, at almost 20 minutes long. This Trilogy can't be spoken about without acknowledging the music videos for it. It all follows the heartbreaking theme of losing someone you love and spent your entire life with. The music videos convey that message beautifully but also so incredibly well that it almost feels like you are the person living it. Pain Remains I: Dancing like Flames is the embodiment of grief and realization that someone is truly gone. "You were my everything", "You're far from my reach but not far out of sight", "You took me by surprise and then you disappeared in the blink of an eye" are just some of the lyrics that convey the message beautifully. If you have ever contemplated ending your life or lost someone close to you this one hits extremely heavily. The idea of the eternal grief of having someone ripped away from you in a heartbeat is so incredibly hard to fathom.
"A world without you isn't meant for me" perfectly leads into Pain Remains II: After All I've Done, I'll Disappear. This piece specifically is extremely hard for me, I have struggled with suicidal thoughts my entire life, the music video depicts someone attempting to end their life thankfully they survive just to continue the endless suffering of having lost a loved one. "Even inside a dream this world has no meaning" perfectly describes the pain of having lost your significant other. You thought you were dreaming, everything was perfect and suddenly they are gone. I never thought a deathcore song can make me cry but this one managed to do so. An absolute masterpiece.
Following Pain Remains II is Pain Remains III: In a Sea of Flame. PR3 is the sad reality of coming home to them being gone, the sad reality of you being alone. The raging thoughts of everything you once loved being gone. The absolutely beautiful imagery of burning down everything you once loved, everything that once seemed so perfect is depicted in the music video. "Let the flames rise and bury me within this fog" is just one of the many lines about the idea and reality of coming to truth. PR3 is the perfect ending to the Trilogy and the Album as a whole. One of the most if not the most heartbreaking songs I have ever had the pleasure of listening to.
Some notable lyrics include: "Everything I made became a waste of time" "I'll throw myself into the fire and burn away, ridding this flesh of burden and pray I suffocate" "Fuck this existence, bring me back to where it all began in the fall" "Wake me up before i lose it all"
As I said at the very start this Album is not for the faint of heart. This was the first deathcore Album i listened to in full and I am impressed, shocked and moved by it.
Once again Will Ramos's vocals are one of the most wonderful things I have ever heard. The production on this entire record is insane. Easily my favorite production of anything I have ever heard.
Lorna Shore outdid themselves with this masterpiece.
10/10.
