Album review: Lorna Shore – The Everblack is Festering Within Me

How long have I been waiting for this album! (How long, given the fact that I’m not exactly a super-duper long-term Lorna Shore fan, I’ve only really started listening to them this year.) This was perhaps one of my most awaited albums of the second half of 2025. And it was worth the wait!

I decided to order the record via Bandcamp because I wanted the super nice blue marbled Century Media exclusive vinyl. Practical side effect: the purchase of the vinyl came with the album as digital download, which is quite handy because I use a USB stick in my car (you may call me old, or just a weirdo because I can’t stand having my music interrupted by the voice of my GPS), which makes MP3 files very handy. Century Media was super on point with mailing the vinyl, so that it arrived a day early. Yet I had to wait for my partner to come home from work before I was allowed to give it a listen because I am not the biggest Lorna Shore fan in this household. I still unpacked it and took a moment to admire the sheer beauty of the artwork and the vinyl itself.

Tell me this is not fucking beautiful?

When we finally had the time to listen to it for the first time there was a little storm outside with heavy wind and rain and you can’t imagine how much this added to the atmosphere. The entire album has a length of 1h 6min 31s according to Tidal and it’s an hour of pure joy, agony, pain, rage – a shower of emotions that I could not really digest after listening to it once.

The record starts with Prison of Flesh and Oblivion, both songs I was already familiar with, which was a nice, familiar start. The third track, In Darkness, was the first new, unreleased song and BAM. Just … BAM. I love the melodies. Once again, Lorna Shore are big on orchestration. The sound of the entire album, and some songs in particular, is intense. While I definitely needed some time to get to terms with Will Ramos‘ extreme vocals (this man is INCREDIBLE, but we all know that) when I started listening to Lorna Shore, the guitars and orchestration struck me. After all, I’m a bit of an orchestra girl (I used to sing in a choir, and I used to miss my cues because I was paying too much attention to contrabass and tuba). And this album is heavy on great melodies. The build-ups and releases of tension in some songs make me mosh at home (… and I can see Will Ramos‘ pre-breakdown face in some moments 😂). Also, only recently, I grew more and more fond of the drums. Had I not seen him play live, I’d believe Austin Archey was a kraken.

An absolute highlight for me personally is Glenwood, which needed basically one listen to become one of my favourite tracks on the album. It already made me cry once while listening, and after reading the background story to the song on Lorna Shore’s Instagram today, I cried a little more. There’s a certain vulnerability in this song, which becomes audible in the way Will Ramos‘ screams sometimes fade into a teeny-tiny clear ending that sends shivers down my spine (same happens in In Darkness, by the way).

Lionheart, on the other hand, comes with a somewhat powerful, uplifting spirit (which I could need after crying my way through Glenwood). The „Let’s go“ quite at the beginning of the song made me giggle – and the giggling stopped when the background choir started. This song is as powerful as its title suggests. It’s a contrast to Glenwood’s sadness and the power of Death Can Take Me, which follows afterwards.

Rather unsettling, on the other hand, was War Machine, when I noticed the samples of shooting and screaming people used. I could’ve guessed that a song with such a title could be a bit harder to digest, but my anxious brain that has been struggling a little with the latest developments in world politics did not like it. The song is great – but it „irritates“ me. I’m lacking a better word right now. I don’t think I’ll grow fond of the song.

A Nameless Hymn kind of feels like an epic mess. I don’t know, I can’t keep up with the song, it just hits me straight in the face and I love it. I love everything about it. I love the energy, I love it.

What I love more, though, is Forevermore. And if you’re ever looking for a song to listen to while there’s a storm and heavy rain outside … try Forevermore. It will blow you away and the final maybe 30 seconds with the cello-part will break you and feel like catharsis. Forevermore is sheer beauty with the power of a movie soundtrack. A very metal movie soundtrack. In terms of orchestration, this song is the end level. It’s the definition of epic. It’s almost 10 minutes long and it sends you through every possible emotion you can feel. If you’re able to feel emotions at all, it will most likely make you cry. And shiver. And give you goosebumps. THIS SONG IS EVERYTHING, OKAY?

I love this album. I could live without War Machine though, but other than that: Lorna Shore delivered and right now I love them more than ever before.