Review: Lorna Shore concert

When deathcore band Lorna Shore released their fourth album “Pain Remains” in 2022, it was love at first listen. It was their first full-album release since vocalist Will Ramos joined the band and brought along a new sound. The album’s symphonic elements and Ramos’ wide vocal range make this album stand out from its genre. It was fitting for the band to perform the album in full length at The Tabernacle in Atlanta, considering the church-like choir featured in some of the songs and the building’s past as a church.

Three opening acts preceded the main event, the first being death metal band Sanguisugabogg. Though I didn’t hear all of their set, what I did hear was too much. At no point during the set were my senses not completely overwhelmed with the instrumentals. The double-bass drum was nonstop and the guitar shreds constant, causing all of their songs to sound the same. The lead vocals didn’t make up for it, being the signature death metal growl. That’s not to say the band was bad, just underwhelming.  Taking after popular death metal band Cannibal Corpse, Sanguisugabogg uses violent and sometimes sexually explicit lyrics and imagery. The forced and unnecessary sexual gore is supposed to be cool and totally hardcore but in reality it’s just weird.

Metalcore band Kublai Khan TX’s set was like seeing two performances in one, as the audience put on just as much of a show as the band. The audience’s involvement in a metal show is almost as important as the music itself, and it’s up to the band to get the energy flowing. Lead singer Matt Honeycutt, did just that. He was not only a talented vocalist, but a spirited performer. His constant demands to the crowd to get off their feet kept the audience moving and the energy high throughout their set. But his flirty attitude towards the women at the show threw off the vibe; I can’t say I’ve ever heard a musician refer to the audience as “baby girl.” Music-wise, I appreciate their retro 90s theme in a sea of modernized and watered down metal, although some songs sounded empty with too much focus on lead guitar and not enough rhythm. 

Being an original in the genre, the name Whitechapel has been tossed around in the deathcore scene for a long while now. For all of the things I’d heard about them, their set was disappointing. To start, this six-piece band had a whopping three guitarists; their music featured such constant and standard guitar-playing that all of the songs meshed together. You’d think that after 17 years of performing, they’d put on an impressive performance, but it seemed like they just wanted to play their setlist and get off the stage, completely uninterested in the crowd. Still, their by-the-book deathcore sound may be because, well, they are the book. Many newer deathcore bands such as Lorna Shore likely wouldn’t be what they are without Whitechapel’s influence on metal as a whole. They’re definitely talented, but their status as one of the staple deathcore bands overfeeds their hype.

Lorna Shore’s performance was nothing short of beautiful. Their music made me want to stop moving and just appreciate the sound unlike the other bands which I had been dancing to. Hearing Ramos’ inhuman voice at the beginning of the first song blared throughout the building felt unreal. It was hard to process that a rather small guy with curly, light pink hair could make such a sound. He has earned recognition in the deathcore scene since he joined the band because of his vocal range, which allows him to take his voice from a hog squeal to a deep rumble. 

The band’s unique guitar riffs and solos further enhanced the performance, giving a melancholy feeling. Sometimes it’s hard to find emotion in deathcore albums because of the genre’s busy instrumentals, but Lorna Shore has found a balance between being heavy and having their own unique sound. They fit into the subgenre of symphonic deathcore due to their occasional use of orchestral string instruments and choir. 

The final part of “Pain Remains” was what really stood out about their set. The 20-minute, three-part song which shares the album’s title is filled with profound emotion and creativity. The lyrical content you usually expect from a deathcore band is gore and death, but this song reads like a poem. While the themes of love, sadness, anger and pain may not be able to be heard through Ramos’ unintelligible voice by an untrained ear, the emotions are also conveyed through the slow, high-pitched riffs and Ramos’ tone, while maintaining the busy bass and drums of the genre. There’s simply nothing like this song out there, thanks to Ramos’ exceptional songwriting. Seeing this beautifully created song live felt like an out-of-body experience, and somehow made it even better than it already was.

This definitely ranks high on the tier list of concerts I’ve seen, with the three talented opening bands and stunning performance of “Pain Remains” all in a beautiful historic venue in the heart of downtown Atlanta.