Lorna Shore are one of those bands who inherently get it. They know what kind of music they want to make, and it flows out of them with a beckoning power … they are the Niagara Falls of deathcore—a spectacle you just have to see for yourself. When this five-piece ensemble first stepped into the scene in 2015, they shook the foundations of metal and hardcore to make way for some of the most ferocious compilations to hit mainstream popularity. In what is now the 10-year anniversary of their debut album, they are releasing I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me on September 12 via Century Media Records.
This album is unlike their previous for many reasons, but one prominent theme amongst the members is how this project was channeled via outlying forces, the kind of tragic life experiences that creep up on all of us at some point or another. Especially for frontman and vocalist Will Ramos, who has often leaned on his ‘outside looking in’ perspective until it came time to find his voice for I Feel the Everblack Within Me. Family struggles mold us more than we know and Ramos spent the last two years facing extreme relational hardships. He underwent a rocky period with his father where they lost communication and then last year his brother-in-law passed away. Everyone has different ways of working through such traumatic and profound experiences, for Ramos part of his healing came from translating his feelings through tracks on this album.
“I mean, one of the songs, “Forevermore,” is literally about my brother-in-law passing away. The song is trying to encapsulate the idea of a Viking funeral. Back in the day, you died…everyone’s sad but they’re also kind of like, we’ll see each other in Valhalla type shit. Then they go out and shoot the arrow. The arrow hits the boat, boat lights up in flames, boat goes out to sea. Everyone’s sad, but also a little happy at the same time. Just happy to have known the person. With “Forevermore” we’re trying to capture that exact thing for Corey,” expresses Ramos. “There’s a lot of lines on that song with the idea that life is like a garden and we’re all just flowers growing in the garden. We’re a whole family of people, we’re all together. Then you start to hear this raven’s cry in the distance, which ravens are supposed to symbolize death. It’s supposed to be like as time goes on, flowers are getting plucked from the garden. He kind of just disappeared and it was out of nowhere. It ends with the idea that this isn’t goodbye, we’ll meet again on the other side. It’s like my final ode to Corey as if I’m talking to him … wherever the hell he’s at. So that’s probably one of the most important lyrics I’ve written in a long time.”
One thing that no one will question when listening to this track list, is the raw and unfiltered authenticity that seeps through his vocals, as well as the lyrical momentum behind them. For a band who is known to incorporate epic crescendos, momentous orchestral elements and such a ‘larger than life’ production value, it feels like this album really leans into the storytelling aspect to match the grandiose proportions of their music. As always, Ramos’ legendary vocal range and ability never ceases to impress, it is what initially sparked so much intrigue from the band.
What some may find surprising, Ramos has never had a proper vocal coach or technical training when developing his screaming technique. “A long time ago, I wanted to be a deathcore vocalist so bad because I loved making little monster sounds that sounded like a demon and shit. I just kept trying it. I kept listening to other deathcore vocalists, getting inspired from them and seeing what they’re doing.” Although it is a rare gift, he knew exactly what he wanted to do from a young age and went on to pursue it without a second thought. He put in a lot of work but never doubted his ability to learn what he set his mind to.
“I didn’t realize I was doing it at the time, but the more that you’re trying these other things, the more you start to awaken these different sensations inside of you, like muscles you didn’t know were there, ways to move your voice. I’ve been doing vocals longer at this point than I haven’t been doing vocals, like 15 years. So, I mean, you get all those years of just doing that trial and error, learning more about your voice, and recently I’ve been doing a lot more clean singing and trying to learn how to do that. Learning how to clean sing has helped me learn how to scream in more ways than I could possibly imagine. I’ve always been the person where if I can make one sound, I know I can evolve it somehow.”
I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me is out Friday and you can preorder it from Century Media Records. Follow Lorna Shore on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok for future updates.
