Lorna Shore – I Feel The Black Festering Within Me Album Review

Lorna Shore didn’t just drop a deathcore album. They went all in on something massive and unapologetically over-the-top. I Feel the Black Festering Within Me is massive in scope and scale, like the band sat down and said, “Let’s score a blackened apocalypse.” The opening track wastes no time making it clear just how big this thing wants to be. Huge walls of sound, atmospheric layering, choirs, strings, and guitar work that’s razor-sharp but never sloppy. It’s heavy as hell, but there’s real emotion behind it. It’s not mindless heaviness or a tech demo for showoffs. There’s weight in every decision.

Will Ramos once again proves he’s operating on another plane. His vocal control isn’t just impressive. It’s surgical. Will throws out gutturals that still manage to carry emotion, with highs that slice through the mix without going thin or annoying. The drumming across this record hits that same level of near-inhuman precision, and the guitar solos, especially in the back halves of a few longer tracks, show off a level of technicality that doesn’t just exist for show. It actually pushes the songs further instead of just filling space.

As good as this record is, it sometimes pushes things too far. The symphonic stuff sounds great, but in places it steamrolls everything underneath. What should build tension ends up blurring the impact. On several tracks, the instruments feel like they’re fighting for space under layers of orchestration and choir vocals. They ride that line between epic and excessive. Some moments hit hard. Others feel buried in their own weight.

One thing that does stand out is how they’ve approached breakdowns. These aren’t your standard slow-chug pauses. They play with timing in a way that still hits hard, but avoids falling into the same old breakdown formulas. It’s refreshing. It keeps you locked in without ever feeling like they’re pulling from the same old deathcore playbook.

You’ll find flashes of calm, sadness, and tension buried in all the chaos. There are spots where things feel too polished, like they were built for the sing-along instead of the sound. It pulls you out of the moment. Thankfully, those moments are rare.

Flaws aside, this is still one of the strongest records to come out this year. It’s clear they swung big, and they meant every second of it.

If they had pulled back just a bit, this could’ve been a straight-up classic. What we got is still wild and massive, but sometimes it’s too much. It’s obvious they were aiming to create something untouchable. They came close.