What the fuck is up with Deathcore vocalists? CJ McCreery (ex-Lorna Shore), Lucca Schmerler (ex-Mental Cruelty), CJ McMahon (ex-Thy Art is Murder), Jay Evans (ex-Ingested), and Worm Shepherd‘s Devin Duarte. All ousted/left due to some controversy or general shittiness.

Well, Like Lorna Shore back in 2020 with Immortal, Worm Shepherd‘s third album was already mostly recorded before the vocalist issues. The band (or lone remaining member Tre Purdue) decided to release the album with Duarte on vocals and add some session folks to help out with Harry Tadayon (ex-Immortal Disfigurement)  and Mental Cruelty‘s Nahuel Lozano on drums to help recording. However, it’s clear the band ( and their third logo) is now a studio project only (and a gentleman by the name of ‘The Orc King’ from Infectorium has been tapped as the new vocalist).

With The Sleeping Sun EP, released earlier in 2024, I felt a style shift coming with much more extensive use of clean vocals and slower moodier songs, and I’m glad to report that Hunger manages to merge the elements from the EP as well as their continued top-notch blacked deathcore into a stellar third album.

The band’s already established sound which is influenced by peers like Lorna Shore (Immortal era) and such, is perfected here. Make no mistake, much like bands like Enemies Everywhere and such they are doing the Lorna Shore blacked deathcore sound with nigh an original note, but they are clearly one of the best bands at it.

Not quite as orchestral or choir-filled as A Wake in Providence, but with the same sense of dramatic, building symphonic bombast, Worm Shepherd’s structural blackened deathcore backbone is solid, and when they get a little moodier such as parts of opener “The Anguished Throne, (where Duarte really shows how good he was) “Illuminate Oblivion”,  “He Who Breathes Fire”, the prior EPs hues shine through, even if Duarte’s clean vocals still don’t hit quite right (Purdue has come out publically saying that the band is done with clean vocals after Duarte’s departure).

Excellent tracks like “He Who Breathes Fire”, the very Meshuggah-ish title track, and the dramatic “The Whistles in the Cold”  and “Of Ruin and Banishment” all deliver the goods for fans of the genre like me, with ample bombast and huge crumbling, now standard breakdowns. But it’s the last third of the album where Worm Shepherd really shows off their ability.

The absolutely blistering standout “A Harrowing Dawn”, brutally gorgeous “The Waters of Lethe” and epic, contemplative 8-minute “And at the End of Fear, Silentium” while not related, come close to matching the gravitas of “Pain Remains” trilogy of songs from Lorna Shore‘s Pain Remains album.

Back in my review of A Wake In Providence‘s stunning I Write To You, My Darling Decay, I wondered who the Big 4 of Blackened Deathcore would be. I ultimately decided that A Wake in Providence should be the fourth act to join Lorna Shore, Shadow of Intent, and Mental Cruelty. But with Hunger, I question who I kick out to make room for Worm Shepherd. Or maybe it’s just a Big 5 now?

[Visit the band's website]

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