Call them heroes or hell-bringers, it doesn’t matter to the men of Lorna Shore. On their fifth album—the declarative I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me—the New Jersey quintet are putting all of metal’s subgenres on notice. Because after one listen, you’ll wonder what motivates them and what took metal so long to evolve. You also might wonder whose truck may have hit you while you were listening.
Vocalist Will Ramos, guitarist Adam De Micco, bassist/vocalist Michael Yager, rhythm guitarist, synth and orchestral arranger Andrew O’Connor and drummer Austin Archey—are operating on a larger plane than ever before. They’ve hit the viral Spotify charts, racked up hundreds of millions of streams, embarked on highly successful tours and in the process, galvanized a significant fanbase that hangs onto the band’s quest for stylistic inversion. But by virtue of physical onslaught and wanting to divine truth from their music, Lorna Shore have kept themselves fired up by torching the metal rulebook at every turn, practically demanding that other genres step up their game.
Lorna Shore are neither dire misery goats, nor flower-picking pollyannas and definitely not lapdogs currying favor from those who would exalt the ordinary. But once listeners embrace I Feel The Everblack Festering Inside Of Me, they will realize that they’re in Lorna Shore’s movie now, and that might tell them something about their lives. When heroes are hard to find, try looking inside yourself first.
