Lorna Shore – …And I Return to Nothingness (Century Media)
Monday, 2nd August 2021
After a debacle with their former vocalist (who was ousted for allegations of both sexual abuse and racism), Lorna Shore return in 2021 with a new vocalist (Will Ramos) and this EP to give him a proper introduction. Given the band’s more upward trajectory out of more clichéd deathcore territory in recent years, …And I Return to Nothingness continues that trend with only a few minor hiccups (or pig squeals, if you will) along the way.
As mentioned, Lorna Shore’s songwriting has been taking an increased step up with more recent material, avoiding more pitfall-ridden clichéd material, to the point where they almost outright avoid it this time (don’t worry, we’ll get to that eventually). The symphonic elements have a very cinematic quality to them, and gives the music a real Armageddon-esque quality when mixed together with some violent riffing, blastbeats, and rather guttural roars. “Of the Abyss” is a real earthshaker, with triumphant and booming melodies striking together with more primal death metal elements in the best possible way. The rub, comes with the band’s already released single “To the Hellfire.” Will Ramos demonstrates he has some inhuman sounding vocal techniques (certainly having studied from the book of Cattle Decapitation’s Travis Ryan), but the closing minute of said track is nothing short of goofy. An immediate mood-killer (for some of us at least) with the deathcore clichéd ‘check out my sick vocals, bruh’ as he continues to pig squeal and snarl over a ridiculous breakdown. Impressive? Yes. Necessary to the song? Absolutely not. Thankfully the other two tracks handle this much better, to the point where it’s a headscratcher why it is even there in the first place.
Lorna Shore show that they have returned with (mostly) improved songwriting and a strong new vocalist. …And I Return to Nothingness provides a taste of what’s to come for the act, and hopefully this is the start of them attempting to try some really impressive stuff.
