As per, American bands tour the UK during the winter. The cold is setting in and I am freezing. Hopefully the band have pyro tonight so I can get warmed up or maybe I’ll be crying so hard from “The Pain Remains Pt. I” that that could warm me up a bit. That’s right, tonight we’re seeing Lorna Shore.
Lorna Shore is an American deathcore band consisting of 5 . The band originally formed back in 2009, but since then has gone through numerous member changes, including adding Will Ramos. The band released their latest album, Pain Remains in 2022, which was met with amazing reviews and brought in a host of new fans. The band have been embarking on a Pain Remains tour across the EU/UK since the beginning of November.
Aside: I will be honest right now, I have no idea what the differences are between all the cores and metal and death and tech-death…I’m not an expert, I’m just here to vibe and write about if the vibes were on or off.
Distant is a 5-piece dutch deathcore band from Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The band recently released the full length album, Heritage. Distant came on with a fun energy. The band introduced themselves to the “woo” of the crowd and immediately had our attention as they got into their set.
The low growls of the vocalist are impressive. They’re stable and sound so crisp and they really do make a great introduction for the night. The other are expressive on stage. The drummer looking ready to fight and the guitarists constantly thrashing their heads and doing some in sync moshes (always a plus in my eyes).
He has great stage banter too. He was dancing the macarena, as apparently the venue don’t allow certain activities within the pit. So, of course the only other solution is to do the next iconic metal dance. He was also encouraging people to hug their best friends, a far cry from punching or kicking them in the pit. The crowd were moshing and jumping throughout the band’s performance, setting security on edge. The set was short for Distant, but they definitely made an impression on the crowd.
Ingested are a death metal band from Manchester, UK. Their latest album, Ashes Lie Still was released in 2022. The drummer for Ingested, Lyn Jeffs, was the first to make an appearance. They motioned for the crowd to make some noise, the crowd not hesitant to follow suit. With the cheering commencing, on came the rest of the band. They got straight into their set with some filthy riffs and heavy double kick pedal drums.
Vocalist Jason Evans exclaimed how they’d toured around the world but it was nice to be back in their home country, “the best in the world.” The audience hesitant to “woo” in agreement, but then began the iconic Yorkshire chant, making him put his hand on his chest in endearment.
We had our first crowd surfer of the day. Evans clearly loving the enthusiasm as he pointed at the surfers in respect. I’m very confused about what the rules are at this venue, again the vocalist mentioned they were limited with what they could do but also I swear I heard him encourage a pit so I have no idea. Lost on me. But anyway, he introduced their last song and implored the crowd to them by buying merch.
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Rivers of Nihil are a 5-piece tech-death metal band from America. Their latest single, “”The Sub-Orbital Blues” released in 2023, being the first to feature their current member line-up. As like before, the drummer of Rivers of Nihil came on first to get the crowd hyped for the entrance of the rest of the band. The crowd followed the command and on came the other as the crowd cheered.
The heavy riffs stood out to me most with this band. Above all I think the guitars carried the music and helped you get pumped. The riffs almost drowning out the screams. Which had great stability and brutal lows. I could hear the echo of the crowd singing along, the band clearly having a fan base already within the UK.
The that could were moving back and forth in their spaces and making use of the platform in front of them. It would’ve been great to see them changing places, as the stage was quite static with all the band trapped behind their instruments. Just having them switch positions a bit would have helped make the stage more lively after the energetic first two bands.
The band did have decent crowd interaction, even though they couldn’t actively get involved with the crowd. Doing things like clapping with the drums, with all the signalling the crowd to follow along, or asking the crowd to get more hype and acknowledging the fans singing along. The band had a great sound overall, with synth type drones going on with the riffs, helping to create a moody atmosphere.
As per, I like to do my usual and see what kind of music the fans of Lorna Shore listen to. Un-surprisingly, if you follow Will Ramos, there were copious amounts of Sleep Token merch. I could also see Bad Omens, Atreyu, Slipknot and Guilt Trip. A lot of the crowd were younger people, the band shirts further signifying that a lot of Lorna Shore audience nowadays are the new wave of deathcore fans, which is an exciting thing to witness.
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The lights dimmed and on came Lorna Shore to an absolute uproar from the crowd. The first song “Welcome Back, O’ Sleeping Dreamer”, had us prepared for the rest of the set, as the much-hoped-for pyro went off showing how much production has gone into this show. Smoke pumps also lined the platform at the front and three were at the back to set off whenever the drops of the songs came in, throughout the set.
Ramos has great deep vocals, something he’s known for, and hearing those pig noises during “To the Hellfire” in real life is a spiritual experience. I’d try to reel off all the types of screams the dude can do but there’s so many I’ll just say that the vocalist is very skilled when it comes to reaching the fry highs, the guttural growls and the farm animals.
Most of the set list was newer material, with a call back to iconic songs like “Immortal”. It makes sense the band go with newer material as these songs were written with the new vocalist’s ability in mind and most of the people now listening to Lorna Shore only got into the band post …And I Return to Nothingness. Though I can understand why older fans would be gutted, I think this is just the natural course and logic for bands that go through the member changes something like Lorna Shore has.
Throughout the set, guest vocalists were brought on, including those from the s – and the tour photographer – making the crowd even wilder. The crowd was mental for Lorna Shore, every song started with the crowd being parted by of the audience ready to lose some teeth. Surprisingly no wall of death, but I imagine that’s one of the things the venue said no to. There were crowd surfers, for every song, spawning atop the audience and being drifted over the sea of hands in the sold out venue. One audience member partying too hard as the encore had to be stopped as a person got punched in the face and started to feel woozy. The crowd interaction from the vocalist only added to the chaos below too, constantly asking “How many of you know this next one?”, “We’re gonna play an old one, how many of you know the words?” Or “I want everybody to jump with me”. Side note: getting the crowd to say the ad lib, “fuck it” during “To the Hellfire” is a nice touch that needs to be appreciated.
The encore was expertly crafted to be the “Pain Remains” trilogy. The songs accompanied by a snow machine that set the stage in such a beautiful atmosphere. That drop…”a world without you, isn’t meant for me”…Poe himself would’ve wept. Anyway, as mentioned, “Pain Remains Pt. I” had to be stopped, during the guitar solo of all places (as De Micco was shredding his guitar, not realising the rest of the band had stopped) due to the ill crowd member. After deliberation by the band to the side of the stage, the Ramos explained it was hard to jump back into a solo and so picked up with iconic spoken word portion of the song and carried on with the rest of the trilogy with no further issues.
It was great to see Lorna Shore at a height they have never reached before. After numerous member shuffles, this feels like a line up that fits with a trajectory to take the band higher and walk some new ground for deathcore. It’s exciting to think about where this band could end up. Lorna Shore have four more dates in the UK before heading back to the EU to finish the remainder of their tour. The band know how to put on a performance and I’m so thrilled I got to witness it during the Pain Remains tour, probably my favourite album of theirs thus far, and with Will at the helm. Tonight is a concert I won’t forget anytime soon and I can’t wait to see what the band do next and fingers crossed they’ll be back in the UK summer for a festival appearance.
Photos by Jayne Slater
