Single Review: Lorna Shore, "This Is Hell"

Lorna Shore - This Is Hell
9.4/10
Release: 9/7/2018

New Jersey deathcore band Lorna Shore has been in the headlines frequently the past few months after some lineup changes and Lil Uzi Vert was caught moshing to their catalog at a show in Philadelphia a few months ago. Upon Tom Barber’s departure from the band, we learned through the grapevine that CJ Mccreery (ex-Signs of the Swarm) had taken over his position. Skepticism had gotten the best of me, and I assumed that CJ was ditching the slamming-core sound he was known for to jump into the blackened-core sound Lorna Shore perfected on their last record, Flesh Coffin.

“This Is Hell” not only silenced my worries in almost every aspect but also blew me away. I was greeted immediately by everything I fell in love with previously,with the elements of Signs of the Swarm I had fallen in love with over the course of their two records splashed in. You can tell that Lorna’s focus was to maintain the darker Flesh Coffin style while adding some more slam-influenced breakdowns to compliment the addition of CJ’s vocals, as they are drastically more intense than what Barber brought to the table. Standouts consist of both De Micco and Deffley’s abilities to create some of what I consider the best riffs in deathcore. Archey is still an absolute monster behind his drum kit, providing machine-gun blast beats that could kill everything within a two mile radius. I cannot believe the synergy of this band, who have achieved almost god-tier standing in my eyes.

If there is one complaint to be made about the new track, it’s that as of now, it is a standalone song to listen to until they make their way into the studio to record their first proper full-length with Mccreery on vocals. If you were worried that Lorna Shore was going to slow down, you were wrong. They are coming for you. “This Is Hell,” literally.

- D