After being upgraded four times, Lorna Shore finally played their biggest ever headline show in the UK. This is why it was such an inspiringly chaotic display from a band with the universe at their feet.
When something special is about to happen, there’s just a feeling in the air. It’s hard to put into words, but you can sense it deep in your bones. There’s an anticipation, an excitement, a palpable atmosphere that sticks to you, making you realise that you are about to be a part of a genuine moment. One that people will talk about, look back on and point at as something truly extraordinary for years to come.
That is what it feels like as the lights went down at the Camden’s Electric Ballroom, Lorna Shore took to the stage, and the first few notes of ‘To The Hellfire’ were plucked.
The band have been waiting a long time to get to this moment. On a recent level, it was their stint on the Faces Of Death tour back in 2020 being cut short due to the pandemic hitting its stride, before the uncertainty of not knowing if they were even going to be a band at all when we came out on the other side. Yet tonight is more of a decade in the making on a larger scale. A sold-out performance in London, that has been bumped up no less than four times over the last few months from a 200 cap to 1500 via rooms across the city, which is also their biggest ever headline show on these shores. It is a trophy carved out of grit, determination, belief, and a statement of intent for all those who thought they were through.
And the most exciting part of it all is that it really feels like only the beginning.
On record, ‘To The Hellfire’ is an absolute behemoth of a track, convulsing and bludgeoning you from all angles. Live, it is a whole other beast entirely. From Adam De Micco’s inch-perfect solos to Austin Archey’s ankle snapping beastbeats to the ungodly sounds that escape from Will Ramos’ lips, it’s one of the most potent and rousing openings to an extreme metal set you will probably ever hear. Whoops of sheer delight meet every breakdown, every animalistic snarl celebrated like a World Cup final winner, every serene passage lapped up with arms reaching up to the Heavens. It is, quite simply, spinetingling.
‘Of The Abyss’ and ‘…And I Return To Nothingness’ quickly follow, further demonstrating the breadth of the band’s sonic repertoire in this new and exciting era, both sounding as crystalline as they do cacophonous. And down on the floor, it is absolutely fucking mayhem. Bodies are flung from one side of the ever-pulsating pit as others are passed over the barrier with unmatched joy plastered across their faces. People are banging their heads as if their lives depended on it, and others have their heads in their hands because they can’t quite believe what they are witnessing. Everywhere you look, something is happening, some type of reaction to the majesty that Lorna Shore is dealing out.
With the present firmly dealt with, the band head into the past for the rest of the set, returning to 2020’s ‘Immortal’ and giving its big hitters the airtime they sorely deserve. ‘Death Portrait’ sounds diabolical, with Will further demonstrating the depths that his blackened vocal cords can sink to, whilst ‘King Ov Deception’ sees band and crowd join as one in a sea of raised horns, a firm reminder of how something so simple binds us all together. As the debauched breakdowns of ‘This Is Hell’ ring out, it becomes more apparent just how special an occasion this really is. It is a celebration of making it through the darkness, perseverance when all seems lost, and how the heaviest things in life can also bring you the most clarity. It’s not very often that music this punishing can deliver such hope, but that’s another reason why Lorna Shore are cut from a different cloth.
Rounding things off with a nod to OGs with ‘FVNERAL MOON’ and an ethereally spine-tingling run-through of ‘Immortal’, it’s clear just how special tonight has been. Not just further silencing anyone who still dared to doubt them but also firmly cementing their place as the most exciting heavy band on the planet right now, this was more than just a victory lap for Lorna Shore. This was the tip of the iceberg in terms of what the next 12 months are going to represent for them, and to kick that off in such a bold, bludgeoning and brilliant fashion is only testament to how truly remarkable they really are. Every element of what they delivered, from the air-tight performance to the atmospherically stunning lights, deserves to be on the biggest stages that the world has to offer. And if all is right in the world, that is precisely where they are heading.
Quite simply, Lorna Shore feel un-fucking-stoppable right now.
Lorna Shore were recently on the cover of Rock Sound! You can pick up a copy and some world exclusive merch from right HERE
