The short-handed version of my opinion is that Will Ramos is the living, breathing “Thing,” straight from the John Carpenter nightmare we’ve all been aware of since we were kids (and yes, I know I’ve referenced Carpenter before and will continue to do so—I honestly think his movies are prophecies). If that frozen plasma demon escaped, landed in Jersey, and stumbled across some charming, tattoo-bodied boy with way too much style to be a deathcore vocalist, the result would be Will Ramos. I really can’t theorize any other reason a person could sound like a hurricane gargling knives with hell’s gates raging in the background.

Will is the vocalist of a band called Lorna Shore. A band that is the musical equivalent of Stephen King’s The Tommyknockers, adapted for a double-kick pedal orchestra (good grief!). They’re the most hyped deathcore band in the industry right now, and it’s because they’re unapologetically outlandish, which, if we’re being honest, is catnip for metalheads. With four incredible albums already behind them, each one feels like the discarded moltings of a fang-heavy tarantula ready to project itself at a metal community that probably deserves to be bitten. This new album is your answer.

This coming fifth record, I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me (out September 12), landed in my dungeon on the 18th, by which point I’d already seen the video for “Prison of Flesh.” That music video rearranged my entire list of horrifying metal visuals. It’s so damn visceral that it actually knocked Cattle Decapitation’s “Forced Gender Reassignment“ down a spot on my list. I won’t tell you which spot, because ambiguity is scarier.

I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me is an epoch (I know I keep saying this about everything, but I don’t see these bands as entertainment. I see them as a literary lifelines, an enormous generational life hack in the opposition of fading intellect in an enormous black fog of political intoxication doomed to lead to spiritual death), and a deeply personal one. It hits far below the surface, probing where the tissue has started to mutate, and it chants ten distinct hymns that will wake up your intelligence and remind you it’s time to commit to your own famous last words. The three tracks that zapped me to the core were Track 2: “Oblivion,“ Track 7: “Death Can Take Me,“ and Track 9: “Nameless Hymn.”

Track 2: “Oblivion“ comes with a gorgeous music video that operates on the obvious reality of a world that doesn’t care about anything beyond our vices; that the earth itself is becoming more plagued. Will’s lyricism is critical mass: endless, lucrative emotions about breathing in a poisonous realm and choking on your own blood. The tempos are wicked, ripping through every part of your brain with the dominance of a reinvented Greek mythology.

Track 7: “Death Can Take Me“ is unsettling. It’s brilliantly positioned between two contending tracks that force you to realize how sound alone can manipulate your heart rate when spaced so elegantly between such dynasty-style war tones. It’s like a drug. I’m most in love with this track because of how flawlessly it begins and then takes off, carried by the four corners of the darkest tones in the entire metal index. I’m dying for the lyrics.

Track 9: “Nameless Hymn“ is emotionally overwhelming. There were a few points where I got lost in the music instead of staying objective about what they were combining, which is exactly the point. These are the most ferociously redemptive qualities imaginable, if you’ve ever held a bad opinion of Lorna Shore, this track will destroy it. I force you to listen to the whole album straight through, or else your teen angst will never be taken seriously. This band is over the top. This album is worth raving about forever. Too good to be true.

Lorna Shore will release their fifth album, I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me, on September 12 via Century Media Records. Order it here and check out Metal Insider’s interview with guitarist Adam De Micco at this location.

Jordeana Bell

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