This was one of those ‘one and done’ bands, meaning they only released one album as Lovelorn. However, they were connected directly and indirectly to a number of other projects. Vocalist Jayson Holmes had been in metalcore band Eso-Charis, and later formed The Handshake Murders (who mostly recorded on secular labels). Corey Putman (Eso-Charis, Norma Jean) and Arthur Green (Eso-Charis, Living Sacrifice) also made appearances on the album.
The album is a wonderfully strange concoction of emo-core, hardcore, indie rock and math rock–almost like Roadside Monument meets Coalesce, but with bits of Karate thrown in just because. It was released on Texas-based Pluto Records, back when the label was still primarily releasing Christian artists.
“Feather” is the album closer, and is an incredibly long song, especially for hardcore–a genre typically known for short and fast songs, frequently in the 2-minute range. What’s particularly effective about the track is how it closes with a piece from a southern preacher going into excruciating detail about the suffering of Christ. Trigger warning: if you don’t like vivid descriptions of violence, you’ll want to stop the track at around the 8:30 mark.
I haven’t followed The Handshake Murders, so I don’t know if they carried on in the same style, or even lyrical direction.
HM were definitely in a different direction. Far more on a technical metalcore type vibe but with the Coalesce influences still there.
I bought this cd for maybe $5 from a local Christian bookstore only due to being aware of Pluto records at the time (this would have been around 2001-2003) and was blown away at the originality of this album.