LORNA SHORE // ALEXANDRA PALACE, LONDON

Lorna shore bring Brutal Excellence to london’s ally pally

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(5/5)

LORNA SHORE AT ALEXANDRA PALACE, LONDON
PHOTOCREDIT: LUKE LAWLEY

Eager fans gathered in the masses to witness the mythical Lorna Shore perform alongside a legendary deathcore lineup with long-term running icons, their mainline openers, Whitechapel, exuding the level of angst we’ve all come to love. Lorna Shore also brought along Humanity’s Last Breath to premiere their latest track, “Godhood” . Shadow of Intent also made a standout appearance, which really set the tone of what was to become an insane night to remember.

First on Humanity’s Last Breath came out with dark, gloomy tones living up to their name, exploding with anger and dread, welcoming in the crowd from Alexandra Palace’s entrance, dirty vocals, and booming lows across the venue. With most shows, it seems the crowd starts off smaller as the acts go on, but in this case, that could be further from the truth. The range on this lineup is something I personally noted as perfect, with Humanity’s Last Breath proving Swedish Deathcore is very much alive and breathing as a dominant presence in the scene. Forming in 2009 with 4 studio albums to date, they put together the perfect setlist for the show, ending the set with the powerful “Instill” , their most iconic and popular song to date, with over 3 million streams, and with Lorna Shore bringing them along for the ride and for hopefully many more.

Shadow of Intent opened the floodgates for this one. For our video game fans who haven’t heard of these guys but love bands like Escape The Fate, this might be one for you. Forming as a studio project based around the Halo franchise, Shadow of Intent bring riff focused vibes to the melodic deathcore scene with a technical performance, fast blast beats, and brutal gutterals which make you feel you could be flying into a battlefield. The performance was very strong, having every single person in the Palace hanging on to every last line. Vocalist Ben Duerr is back with the band after being covered by Adam Mercer on a previous tour, and he brought the thunder with his incredible stage presence, commanding the audience as a leader into war. Many pits were split, many crowdsurfers ventured forth—all in all, a fantastic production from the band and their team.

Whitechapel. What more can I say? Personally, being a fan growing up of these guys, it was a pleasure to see them at such a large venue on a prestigious lineup. Lorna Shore could not have chosen a better fit for this tour to open them up. Since The Somatic Defilement’s release in 2007, they have evolved in sound and been an anvil of the deathcore genre, with I’m sure many people being in the crowd being there for just them, with the Whitechapel merch being plentiful. Straight out of Knoxville Tennesee to London, they destroyed the crowd with filthy vocals and chugging guitars alongside some of the angriest moshing I have ever seen. Perfect production for this set with a blinding strobe glazing the crowd to create a stop motion-like feel to the chaos unfolding in the pits. So many walls of death I lost count, alongside at least 100 crowd surfers running out of the front row to get back into the fight. Previewing some tracks from their 2025 album Hyms In Dissonance, with a highlight reel of their greatest hits with the infamous Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation. Hate Cult Ritual, Prisoner 666, and A Visceral Retch are all on the setlist here too. This was a clear showcase for their latest work, whilst keeping older fans satisfied with “the old stuff” despite the interesting lyric choices. Whitechapel brings gore and deathcore to the big stage once again.

Time for the main event! With “one of the warmest welcomes we’ve ever recieved” Lorna Shore opened up with fire and fury. Will Ramos, now considered one of the greats due to his unique vocals, showed up for the people. Despite suffering from the Flu as opposed to last time's food poisoning, you wouldn’t be able to tell in any way. He gave his all and commanded Ally Pally to “be on your worst behaviour,” opening up the crowd to decimate each other. You could feel the love this band has for what they do throughout the whole set. The passion that went into this production felt Hollywood while distinctly deathcore. Towering lights, animated backdrops, and enough pyro to feed the whole crowd, and some of the most insane lighting the stage has seen. Opening up with Oblivion, we knew we were in for a great set with some of the best hits in there. With them only just dropping the music video for “In Darkness” which for me was the highlight of the mid-show. A deathcore power ballad feels oddly inspiring despite the insanity of the mosh pit.

The band “getting sentimental for a minute” plays the acousticly opened “Glenwood” which transforms into an emotionally rich performance. Ramos comes to deliver some news. “The bad news is this is our last song... the good news is that it’s a trilogy” . The Pain Remains trilogy executed the audience flowing track to track smoothly, a great idea for the show, and something I hope to see more bands to do in the future. Again, the passion for storytelling in a genre so full of heavy emotion felt refreshing and reminds us that even through the guise of a deathcore show, art is still very much there. But what are we all really here for? The pig squeals. We all know it, we all love it!

To The Hellfire was, of course, the encore track. The stage goes dark as they walk off. Flames start to ambiently flicker along the stageline. The time has come to say goodbye, and Lorna Shore did this with everything they had. Fire, fog, and explosions popped off at any chance they had. In all, Lorna Shore shows that they are THE heavy hitters. They stand at the top of the podium when it comes to the modern deathcore scene, showing equally creative and brutal excellence.

REVIEW + PHOTOS BY: LUKE LAWLEY