Lorna Shore vocalist Will Ramos opens up on the making of their latest LP ‘I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me’, out September 12.
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“At the end of it all, we just want to put out good music.”
Will Ramos smiles because he cannot say it much blunter than that. However, when you consider that he is speaking for himself and his Lorna Shore bandmates, the statement becomes a bit more powerful.
Because no matter what Lorna Shore do, it’s seemingly never enough for some people. Too heavy, too soft, too melodic, too emotional, the list is endless. The best thing to happen to deathcore in a long time, or everything that is wrong with it. No matter what, the debate will rage, the opinions will sprout, and the noise will be deafening.
But for Will, none of it really matters, because all the band has done over the last 15 years, the previous five with him in the fold, has been about doing what feels right.
By listening to their hearts and crafting their music around what they find, they have been elevated from your favourite band’s favourite band to the precipice of being genuine metal superstars. The next world-beater, taking extreme music to the biggest stages that it has available. And it’s by looking to the other stars of the arena stages, the bands that have taken that next step upwards, that Lorna are pulling confidence from.
“We’ve had all of these shared experiences playing with bands like Gojira and Parkway Drive,” he continues. “They all carry so many different things that make them the bands that they are. It’s even up to the point where you can’t classify them as just this genre or that genre. You have to look at it like, ‘That’s just Gojira.’ They have that sound. And that’s what we want. We just want to be Lorna Shore, going on that stage and playing music that makes the fans as stoked as we are. I think that’s a necessary evolution of the band, and something that all bands have to go through. I’m hoping that this is our chance to just be who we want to be rather than who other people expect us to be.”
And that sentiment shines through brightest on ‘I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me’, the most grandiose, harmonic, guttural and ambitious vision of who Lorna Shore are and will be to date. Scarily brutal one minute, beautifully hopeful the next, it is heavy music that’s made to make you feel. To question everything you know, dig deep into your soul and face what you encounter head-on. It’s a record that will mean a million things to a million different people, and when it comes to heavy music, there isn’t a sweeter victory than that.
To find out more about the creation of this devastating experience, Rock Sound caught up with Will and uncovered what it means to give it all in the name of your art.
THE SOUND
For many a band, time, space and total freedom are gifts that are hard to come by. For Lorna, though, they seemingly had too much of all three as they approached the crafting of ‘I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me’. Off the back of 2022’s ‘Pain Remains’, an album that introduced them to a whole new audience, Will best describes the experience of figuring out how to follow it up as “A fucking nightmare”. Such honesty is rare, especially when a band are at the height of their powers. Still, it also demonstrates just how much care and consideration is put into their music. To ensure that they cover all bases in the way that feels best, while constantly wondering if there is more for them to uncover, it makes sense that the output on this new offering is so vast. Why there are so many different strands of musical exploration found sprouting from it. Why the distance between the most gorgeous and the most guttural elements are miles rather than metres.
Though despite the self-doubt and uncertainty of whether they were going about it the right way, the shimmering positivity that Will exudes kept everything in check. In being a huge fan of the band before he joined in 2020 – his first exposure being the incredible ‘Godmaker’ from the 2013 EP ‘Maleficium’ – he has the unique perspective of viewing the band from the inside as well as the outside. And this superpower of sorts means that, in his eyes, no matter where they roam, it will always still sound like Lorna Shore.
“Nobody else is in this band apart from us,” he beams. “Of course, there is a lot of self-doubt that comes with that. ‘Are we straying too far in this direction? Maybe we shouldn’t do that so much.’ It’s why the studio took so long; sometimes you have a bit more time than you actually need, and that doesn’t necessarily help. But I was very confident the whole time because I knew what we would get would always be Lorna Shore. Adam is going to play his melody, Moke and Austin are going to write some crazy breakdowns, we’re going to have some wild orchestra shit, and then I’m going to be doing my noises, and that’s pretty much Lorna Shore in a nutshell. Everybody does their part, and that is what changes the sound. Butno matter what, it will be us. It’s just a matter of convincing yourself that’s what it is going to be.”
And though everybody plays their part, it feels as though the levels that are being hit are so much higher than in the past. Guitarist Adam De Micco’s solos are even tighter, more technical, and thrilling, meanwhile drummer Austin Archey is hammering his set even harder than ever before, bolstering one of the more formidable rhythm sections in the genre alongside bassist Michael “Moke” Yager. Combining their love for heaviness with their deep knowledge of music theory allows even the most chaotic and calloused of ideas to stay in balance. It’s how a track like ‘Oblivion’, ebbing and flowing between soaring melody, apocalyptic desolation and skull-crushing heft, feels perfectly constructed rather than hastily thrown together, a trap that so many a band can fall into whilst stirring so many melting pots.
Although there is one element that shines brightest, a part of the band’s sound that stands out above the rest now more than previously. And that is the orchestral refrains, crafted meticulously and lovingly by rhythm guitarist Andrew O’Connor. Delving into a library of 150 instruments and endless angelic vocal tones, his gorgeous compositions take the Lorna Shore model into heavenly new places, adding drama and decadence in abundance. No longer just symphonic, the likes of the triumphant ‘Lionheart’ and devilish ‘Death Can Take Me’, and not forgetting the all-out extravagance that closer ‘Forevermore’ is built on, feel more like movie scores than pit fuel.
Much of that comes from a personal scope on things from Will, the potential to bridge his different passions, which stem all the way back to his childhood, in a way that feels fresh and fantastical.
“I grew up playing classical instruments, but I also grew up loving movies. My Dad and I would go and watch things like Interstellar and all these other huge sci-fi epics. I always loved those scenes, where the music, that’s usually orchestral, would represent how a person feels, whether you are aware of it or not. It would always be in the background, and it would change the way that you feel about it, regardless. We want to be able to bring that in and make it sound huge ourselves. That’s an awesome thing to be able to do. Give people an experience. And the longer songs we have allow for longer music videos, which in turn allow for better stories. We can expand on what we have and make it so much more beautiful.”
THE LYRICS
For as long as the word deathcore has been thrown around, the association has always been with darkness. The most extreme imagery and attitude, of pushing the limits of what the stomach can take lyrically, to match the punishment of the music. For Will, writing about evil doesn’t come naturally to him anymore. Though he was raised on the likes of Suicide Silence and All Shall Perish, as well as Lorna, of course, his desire as a vocalist no longer lies in making people feel uncomfortable or squeamish. Now, he wants to make people shine. And there’s one band in particular that he pulls that sort of inspiration from.
“When I was growing up, it was all about Northlane,” he remarks. “Every song [on 2013 album ‘Singularity’] was about what made you feel good, and it felt like it was teaching you a lesson about something. ‘The truth is we all suffer’ [from ‘Scarab’] is one of the hardest lines ever, yet, throughout the whole album, they have been talking about persevering. So, when it comes to our band, I want to capture every emotion. We’re not just a sad and angry band. I’m no longer an angry vocalist. There is no rhyme or reason or recipe for this stuff. It’s just about writing what feels good.”
It’s because of this desire to represent the full spectrum that Will has crafted some of his most honest lyrics ever for ‘I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me’. Some of them are about his own personal experiences, with opener ‘Prison of Flesh’ detailing watching members of his family fall deeper and deeper into the clutches of dementia, whilst ‘Glenwood’ is a powerful look at his estrangement from his father, a song that he hopes will resonate with others in similar circumstances. And though these are heavy subjects, Will does not want to let aggression dictate how he reacts to these life-altering events. That’s where the spine-tingling ‘Unbreakable’ and proud ‘Lionheart’ come in, songs that are rooted in overcoming adversity and not letting this savage world get on top of you.
It once again goes back to their touring with the likes of Parkway Drive and the lessons that they learnt from them. Watching a band so firmly rooted in what metalcore is go on to become one of the biggest arena bands that the scene has ever produced, Will could see how differently the crowds at those shows were reacting to what he was used to from the ones where spin kicks were the primary focus.
“I love deathcore. I grew up with it. However, you go and play a show with a deathcore band, and people love it for the shock and awe of it,” he explains. “It means that a lot of people are just on their phones waiting for this one moment to film and then have it live in there. Then you go to a Parkway Drive show and you watch them play, and it’s so hard to find a phone in sight because the crowd are feeling so fucking good that they are jumping around instead. The entire arena is feeling something; they are just there in that moment.
“That’s the reason any of us become musicians in the first place. You want people to be attracted by you playing the music, and I’m really hoping this album is that for us. We all want to stay here as long as possible. Making these steps towards being more human within our music is going to help propel all of us towards achieving that.”
THE TITLE AND ARTWORK
On the surface, you wouldn’t think that a record called ‘I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me’ with artwork as dank and desolate as this would be bolstered by such positive aspirations. The image of a man dwelling within a cave, his face melting into a mesh of billowing blackness, with no hope of being saved, feels rather negative in contrast to the glistening light that exists within the songs.
The truth is that Lorna Shore hadn’t considered this juxtaposition. In focusing so much on getting the music right, covering all the ground they wanted to in the manner they wanted to, things like titles and artwork are left to the very last. It’s more a case of seeing what lines they had that would pique interest and matching them with an image that made sense alongside those words. It’s not what you always expect a band to say when it comes to something that will play such a significant part in their legacy. But even though Lorna didn’t consider the yin and yang between the songs and this title, it almost represents something different.
The everblack that they speak could be seen as a feeling of ultimate freedom. Of being able to do whatever you want that is always waiting inside your chest, biding its time to show itself to you when it is needed most. When it concerns the trajectory that Will and the boys are on, delivering such harsh and heavy music on a scale that so many other bands that sound like them could dream of, they are harnessing that power in real time. Although their journey has taken place over the last decade and a half, it’s right here and right now that the darkness is ready to be utilised.
“You know, people love to think that there is some inner working in that title, like Jumanji or National Treasure, but we were just running out of time,” Will laughs. “But if we can put more heavy music on the map with what we are doing, then I am fucking stoked. Heavy metal has had its time in the past, and there’s a resurgence underway. But perhaps it has always been there, too. But as long as things are looking up for Lorna, we are going to keep on putting our best shit out there. That’s why we don’t care about titles, art, and things like that. Because it will always just be about whatever feels right.”
THE FUTURE
For Will, the aim from here for Lorna Shore is to play big places. Bring heavy music to stages that haven’t experienced it before. Unite different sorts of people under the banner of this fantastical, ferocious and, most importantly, fun scene, showing them what is possible when you do things your way and not bow to the pressure of others. And the amazing thing is that it’s not a distant aim by any stretch.
Back in 2022, Lorna Shore opened for Parkway Drive at London’s iconic Alexandra Palace. At the birth of 2026, they will be headlining it in their own right. From early curiosity to a total takeover in just three and a half years is nothing to be sniffed at. And after that? Who really knows? But what is already set in concrete is the fact that Lorna Shore have become true flagbearers. One of the most successful extreme bands that has made its way through the ranks in modern times. And if that doesn’t inspire you, then nothing ever will.
“I don’t know what the future holds. Nobody does,” Will smiles one last time. “The only thing to do is be positive and make sure everybody does the best that they can. The longer we can stay doing that, the happier we will be. And we don’t know where the roof is. But we will find it and break through it.
“You can count on that.”