Wiki
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Release Date
14 October 2022
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Length
10 tracks
"Pain Remains" is the fourth studio album from deathcore band Lorna Shore, released on October 14th, 2022. It is their first album with Will Ramos as the vocalist, Andrew O'Connor as the rhythm guitarist, and Michael Yager as the bassist.
The story of the album takes place in a dreamworld created by someone who wants to escape their reality. The story ends with the person escaping the lucid dream they've created, because they were unable to find solace in it.
The album achieved critical acclaim, with reviews such as "Three years ago, Lorna Shore didn't even know if they had a future, but with Pain Remains they have sealed their fate as one of the bands to take actual heavy music forward. Hear them roar." from Kerrang, and "Frankly, Pain Remains is ridiculous — far beyond deathcore. The entire game just changed, and Lorna Shore have already won it." from Blabbermouth.net, among many others.
In an interview with Apple Music, Will Ramos has stated: “I wanted to write an adventure that starts with the first song and ends almost back at the beginning with the last song. A lot of deathcore albums are about anger and ‘fuck this, fuck that’—very monotone. I wanted to do something that creates an emotion that, maybe, you haven’t felt in a long time.”
Below, Ramos discusses each track:
“Welcome Back, O’ Sleeping Dreamer”
“There’s a narrator explaining the potential of dreams and lucidity, the opportunity for exploration of the infinite and a deeper dive into the human psyche. The whole song is about falling into this place that feels familiar, but it’s somehow not familiar at the same time. It’s a concept album, so this is the first chapter.”
“Into the Earth”
“This is where the character starts to realise that they’re lucid dreaming—and they’re able to control almost all of this world that’s around them. In the first song, they’re falling into place. In this one, they’re becoming aware of their abilities. Lucid dreaming—becoming aware of dreaming during the dream—is one of the hardest things to do. Usually, when you do that, you wake up immediately. But this person is realising they can manipulate their dreamworld.”
“Sun//Eater”
“In this one, the character starts to realise that they’re almost like a god. When you start to lucid-dream, you become the god of your dreams. You can control everything. The chorus talks about being omnipotent: ‘I am the one/Icarus/I’ll touch the sun,’ whereas Icarus could not touch the sun. He tried so hard. In this song, the person is saying, ‘These are the things I’m going to do.’ It’s optimism. ‘I want to create. This is where I’m at.’”
“Cursed to Die”
“In this song, the character is fully immersed in a dreamlike state. After realising that they’re a god in the last song, now the person who controls this dream universe ends up making people in his own image, so he’s not alone in this world. He’s creating man, essentially, from his memories. He’s basically just trying to fill a void inside that can’t be filled. At this point, he starts second-guessing everything. ‘Did I do this for fulfilment? Am I feeling fulfilled?’ He’s not exactly sure. But he’s learning that reality is whatever you make it to be.”
“Soulless Existence”
“This is where the main character, who has become the god of his own world, starts to realise that there is no point. ‘I’ve done all this shit, and I’m still not happy.’ His emptiness is filling up this world. He himself is nothingness. He’s lost his purpose. He’s found no significance in himself or anything that he has created. He’s lost. He starts to feel like he’s in an endless, almost inescapable purgatory. The lyrics are basically saying he’s in a place where nobody could ever find him.”
“Apotheosis”
“The character starts to see something in the distance that gives him a glimpse of hope. It may be a person or a thing, but he sees the light at the end of the tunnel. He’s like, ‘This is going to be fine. Everything is going to work out.’”
“Wrath”
“When we were putting the album together, this one got moved around. ‘Wrath’ was supposed to be before ‘Apotheosis’ in the story, but the songs flowed better sonically this way. The song is about being pissed and wanting to destroy everything. He’s basically at the point where he wants to see the world he’s created go down in flames. But, like I said, this was supposed to be before he finds any glimpse of hope. So, the story is a little jumbled here.”
“Pain Remains I: Dancing Like Flames”
“I used to have dreams where I would have this fantastic relationship with somebody, and I can’t even tell who this person is at all because that’s how dreams are. Unfortunately, you can’t make out a lot of things—dreams are so vague. But in your mind, it makes sense. You’re falling in love, and then you’ll wake up from the dream and be like, ‘Shit, that never really happened at all. This sucks.’ In the story, the character has a moment like this. They begin to love in their dreams, which returns meaning to their dreamworld. But they can’t quite find solace.”
“Pain Remains II: After All I’ve Done, I’ll Disappear”
“He’s beginning to realise that, after everything, he’s at the end of this whole world he made. It’s all a ghost in the breeze, like fading memories. He wants to disappear, to escape from this dreamworld.”
“Pain Remains III: In a Sea of Fire”
“This is the conclusion, but it’s also the part where he is most angry. He’s at the bottom of the barrel and desperate. The world he made, he’s going to burn it all down and disappear. He’s ready to go back to wherever it was that he came from. It’s the idea that God has left us and the world he made. He’s bored, he’s sad and nothing he’s done has brought him any purpose. So, he leaves the world and goes back to the reality he came from. The ending is a bittersweet tragedy.”
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