Lorna Shore - A Sound So Big
Monday, May 11th 2026
The Ritz - Raleigh, NC - SOLD OUT SHOW - Lorna Shore / Paleface Swiss / Signs of the Swarm
Lorna Shore is a band that defied defeat. A band that flat out refused to cease to exist.
By 2012, all of the original founding members had left the band, leaving Adam De Micco and Austin Archey as the longest-standing core of Lorna Shore. Since then, lineup changes have come and gone, but De Micco and Archey kept dragging the band forward through sheer fucking will. They pushed Lorna Shore deeper into the consciousness of devoted deathcore fans, and in 2020 they added the incomparable Will Ramos on vocals. That changed everything and accelerated the band into the monster it is today.
Now, years later, Lorna Shore sits at the top of their game.
Social media catapulted the band into the mainstream with the viral “To the Hellfire” TikTok clips, but honestly, that is a shallow way to look at this band. As I write this, I’m sitting here wearing a Grateful Dead-inspired Lorna Shore tie-dye shirt. “Why the fuck does that matter?” you ask.
Because over 35 years ago, I saw the Grateful Dead live, and their legendary “Wall of Sound” was something people talked about with reverence. Over the decades I have seen countless bands live, but I had never felt that kind of overwhelming sonic force again until I saw Lorna Shore.
This was my second time seeing them within a year, and somehow it was even more intense. This time, The Ritz was sold out. A deathcore lineup sold out The Ritz in Raleigh, North Carolina. Over 2,500 people packed shoulder to shoulder, getting crushed by the sound. Crowd surfers nonstop. Pits erupting constantly. Every riff and every vocal punch getting an immediate response from the audience.
To say the room was electric would be cliché.
The fucking building was moving.
I repeat: the fucking building was moving.
Opening with “Oblivion” before ripping directly into the anthemic “Unbreakable” immediately set the tone for the night. The band hit all of the major tracks fans wanted, but for some reason “Sun//Eater” absolutely grabbed me live. Standing dead center in the back of the venue, soaking in the sound, lights, and atmosphere, I honestly felt mesmerized. Watching the eclipsed-sun backdrop frame Austin Archey behind the kit felt borderline psychedelic. The visual impact during that song was unreal.
“Glenwood” hit hard too, and it is during tracks like that where you really hear Adam De Micco owning the room with his guitar work. That energy carried through the devastating triple shot of “Pain Remains I-III” before the band closed the night with “To the Hellfire.”
People rightfully talk about Will Ramos’s vocal command all the time. The range, the control, the sheer violence of it live is absurd. Austin Archey’s surgical precision behind the drums is equally talked about, and deservedly so. Austin has the ability to turn his kit into an A-10 Warthog Gatling gun that punches directly through your chest.
But for me, the key to Lorna Shore is the strings.
Adam De Micco can move from savage, punishing chords into sweeping melodic passages while still maintaining a massive symphonic sound. With Andrew O’Connor and Michael Yager filling the space around him, the band creates an absolutely suffocating wall of sound live. Not noise. Not chaos. A full, layered sonic assault that completely engulfs the room.
The kind of sound that somehow makes a Dead Head-inspired Lorna Shore tie-dye make perfect sense.
Lorna Shore was supported on this tour by Signs of the Swarm and Paleface Swiss. This may honestly be the defining deathcore lineup of the spring and summer touring cycle. All three bands brought rabid fanbases and serious stage presence. Each deserves their own write-up, and we’ll break them down separately in future installments.
But if there is one thing you should do as a heavy music fan this spring, it is see this tour.
Lorna Shore Setlist
Oblivion
Unbreakable
War Machine
Sun//Eater
Cursed to Die
In Darkness
Glenwood
Prison of Flesh
Pain Remains I: Dancing Like Flames
Pain Remains II: After All I’ve Done, I’ll Disappear
Pain Remains III: In a Sea of Fire
To the Hellfire
Band Members
Will Ramos - vocals
Adam De Micco - guitar
Austin Archey - drums
Andrew O’Connor - rhythm guitar
Michael Yager - bass
