Lorna Shore's To The Hellfire created quite the stir upon its release in 2021. Not only did the song become a viral hit on TikTok, it also swept the band out of obscurity and cemented them as one of metal's most exciting new artists, laying the groundwork for their critically-acclaimed 2022 album Pain Remains to follow.
A large part of their viral success was brought about by thousands of listeners who were bewildered by frontman Will Ramos' savagely brutal screams that peak on the song in a crescendo of demonic squalls and phlegm-ish gargles.
In 2021, vocal coach The Charismatic Voice, aka Elizabeth Zharoff, even got doctors to examine Ramos' throat via cameras, to find out "physiologically what's happening in his larynx while he's making the deep gutterals, screamingly high goblins, tuvan throat singing and everything else in his repertoire."
On the same channel, Zharoff, who is also an international opera singer, analysed To The Hellfire after hearing it for the first time. Not only does she offer up and in-depth and technically-complex analysis of Ramos' vocal technique, she also dives into what makes the song such a wild experience.
In the first few moments of hearing Ramos' scream, she instantly looks shocked and says "he sounds like a demon! Like immediately, this sounds like some soul-sucking creature from Diablo".
After dropping in numerous comments of expert analysis, she remarks elsewhere: "I think it's so funny he keeps saying 'my final breath, my final breath swallowed by the womb of death' because he's got great breath control that might be imbued by his agreement with a darker power...I feel like this is wizardry, so he must be a warlock of some sort that has agreed and has gained power over breath and vocal control and it's crazy!".
Towards the end of the track, Zharoff enthuses over how it's making her feel like she's "hyperventilating", and makes another comparison: "I feel like we just like either slayed or were slayed by the creature from Stranger Things."
She continues, "Oh my goodness it makes my stomach rumble, it makes my breathing have difficulties. We're going back and listening to it again because that is such an experience it's like I'm on a like a theme park ride".
Linked on her channel, Zharoff has also set up a course with Will Ramos and Chris Liepe to teach fans how to create harsh vocal sounds themselves.
Check out the video below:
