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When metalcore and its sub-genres rose up in a commercial way in the early 00s, my facial expression could easily be  translated as “what on earth?!”. It’s not that I am an elitist, believe it or not, I’m not this kind of person. First, every kind of music, and in our case, every genre of metal has its good and bad points. Second, let’s face it, many bands came on the scene literally copying the genuine precursors without offering anything worthy to talk about. Because of this the metal audiences seemed divided, once again. Many times, a new genre, an experimentation, a cross-over, a “core” at the end of the known genres need some time to be appreciated or not.

With my long introduction I just wanted to say that every time I see “core” I usually pass, so I hadn’t heard of Lorna Shore until now. When a voice inside told me that “you’ll never know, maybe you’ll like it”, I played ‘Flesh Coffin‘. And I loved it! Lorna Shore, for people like me, it is a great example of the new generation of real musicians. Like Doubting Thomas I felt the wounds of ‘Flesh Coffin‘ and I rejoiced the unveiled chaos and brutality. Being completely honest, I haven’t heard Lorna Shore’s early work, so here I will talk about this album as it is their first, taking also in consideration the band’s bio in which the style of playing and line-up changes are mentioned. So here we have a vocalist, Tom Barber, who has embraced brutality. Great deep growls which extend to blackened screams, this guy sings like a beast. And more important: no clean vocals. His vocal abilities are proven in live shows. We also have a merciless drummer, Austin Archey who is the protagonist in this album. His amazing talent unfolds through the whole album. He is technical and fast, and more importantly his playing varies not only regarding speed but also technique. On guitars we have Adam De Micco and Connor Deffley who hold the musical result like two pillars of steel. They know where a solo is necessary and how long a breakdown must last.

Flesh Coffin‘ is a blackened deathcore album and  every track has its moment. It doesn’t let you rest while you hear technical brutal death and symphonic black metal crashing and intertwining resulting in a raw, aggressive and sublime atmosphere. I only hope that the talented musicians of Lorna Shore will exceed the expectations of those whose jaws are still on the floor after listening to this album.

Mary Kalaitzidou