Review: Lorna Shore at Metropolis Fremantle

Lorna Shore at Metropolis Fremantle
w/ Bodysnatcher, To The Grave
Friday, February 14, 2025

How well deathcore juggernauts Lorna Shore and Valentine’s Day go together is debatable, but to be honest, it could have been Christmas Day or the birth of your first child, and it would still seem equally fitting to not miss the first show of their highly anticipated first-ever Australian tour.

With four LPs under their belt (including 2015’s Psalms, 2017’s Flesh Coffin, and 2020’s Immortal), it’d be their 2022 LP Pain Remains that’s recognisable to most. The alluring yet outright terrifying vocals of Will Ramos created not only an amazing album but also a benchmark of demonic reckoning not to be messed with. Would the live version be just as good?

Tickets for the gig sold out soon after release, though it wasn’t until arriving to a line stretching from the Metro Freo doors and down Parry Street that it was clear how big of a fan base there was here in Perth.

With a sold-out show, doors at 7.30 meant many people were still making their way into the venue for Sydney outfit To The Grave’s kick-off. Intensely and subjectively driven, the aptly referred ‘vegan militant deathcore crew’ kicked off with a ferocity that set a high bar for the night.

Opening with Vegan Day of Violence, they then slashed through a set littered with treats from their brutally delightful 2024 LP Everyone’s A Murderer, with Wastage from their 2021 Epilogue EP and their tasty 2025 release Forced Diet Reassignment thrown in for a morbid treat. Like penned-up cattle funnelling towards the slaughterhouse, the venue quickly filled as the set went on. The final song, Made in Aus, came with frontman Dane Evans announcing, “Let’s fuck this place up,” as the band unleashed another level of brutality on the crowd. They’re coming at you with a message, and you better be fucking listening. It’s not often an opening act sets the scene so well and leaves you wanting more. To The Grave certainly made their mark on the night.

A short intermission with some Berlin-style rave music kept the crowd subdued before Floridians Bodysnatcher hit the stage. It’s not often you see a Cattle Decapitation t-shirt banging to heavy techno, but the vibe of the night was somehow untouched. Also on their first trip down under, the four-piece brought an onslaught of songs from across their vast discography, with well-known songs like Take Me To Hell, Infested, Ego Killer, and Black Of My Eyes maintaining the momentum of the mosh pit throughout the set’s entirety.

The raw brutality of Chris Whited’s drums and Kyle Shope’s bass fueled relentless headbanging across E.D.A., Twelve/Seventeen, Murder8, and closer King of the Rats. Frontman Kyle Medina encouraged an onslaught in front of the stage, orchestrating punters into anarchic circle pits, walls of death, and two-step sessions. By the set’s close, the entire venue was hot, sweaty, and salted with beer, whether you ventured into the hellish realms of the mosh pit or not.

While the anticipation built between sets and the venue somehow got even more crammed, there was a phone-lit Romeo and Juliet-style rendition by two punters on opposite sides of the mezzanine as Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On played. A true Valentine’s Day moment.

The moment of truth arrived as Lorna Shore took to the stage, everyone eagerly awaiting the demonic onslaught that was about to commence. Opening with Welcome Back, O’Sleeping Dreamer, they commenced unapologetically aurally pulverising anything and everything in their path. Will Ramos’ guttural vocals were almost hypnotic, somehow worming lyrics into your brain to become a zombie to the music. Ramos’ vocal range is absolutely mind-blowing, and combined with the band’s rapid-fire guitar work and explosive drums and bass, it set the stage for a soundtrack to a hellish warzone.

Pelting through the bulk of songs from their 2022 LP Pain Remains, though skipping Soulless Existence, Apotheosis, and Wrath, it was a relentless massacre of unforgiving tunes that highlighted Lorna Shore’s standing as a force to be reckoned with in the deathcore realms. Austin Archey’s ruthless drumming and Andrew O’Connor’s rhythm guitar provided a deep, ominous foundation for Michael Yager and Adam De Micco’s relentless bass and guitar, forming epic, unforgiving breakdowns that reverberated through your body. De Micco’s glow-in-the-dark guitar and scattered solos provided moments of peaceful chaos amongst the darkness.

It was an undeniable headbanger’s delight as they thunderously worked through Sun//Eater, Cursed to Die, and Into the Earth from Pain Remains, but it was some of the slightly older tracks from the 2021 EP …And I Return to Nothingness that took things to the next level.

With the EP title track, Of the Abyss, and the ultimate aural slaughter, To The Hellfire, that were quite likely to have caused some structural damage to the venue and nearby buildings. The night wouldn’t have been complete without To The Hellfire as anticipation grew with every second towards that break of silence and Ramos’ demonic onslaught around the five-minute mark as he unleashed the ungodly beast inside for the remainder of the song. It felt like your soul was being sucked out of you by Ramos’ possessive vocals, leaving zombified bodies headbanging and flailing to the assaulting beats.

The set was finished, but everyone knew an encore was in tow, and shortly after they returned and hit the audience with Pain Remains I, II, and III in a twenty-minute bludgeoning to close the night on a high. While a few songs from Pain Remains didn’t make it into the set, it was some of their older pre-Ramos work that would have made for a killer addition—if only to hear them with Ramos’ diabolical vocals thrown in. The likes of Hollow Sentence or Death Portrait from 2020’s Immortal LP, Harvest Relms from 2015’s Psalms LP, Life of Fear or Annihilator from their 2012 LP Bone Kingdom, or the title track Flesh Coffin from their 2017 LP would likely be taken to new heights, or depths, with the possessed Ramos vocal blessings.

As always, it was lovely to see everyone living in the moment and no one watching the majority of the set through their phones… if only. We all do it for the memory, but to those people attempting to record a six-minute song in its entirety, maybe just stay home next time and watch a set on YouTube instead. Your video will be shit, so don’t bother wasting other people’s time blocking views as you try to figure out how to zoom in properly.

As the collective of society’s perception of degenerates spewed onto South Terrace and plagued Fremantle’s streets, it was certainly clear that come the next Australian tour, Lorna Shore are probably going to need a much bigger venue. Who would have thought Lorna Shore and Valentine’s Day would be the perfect match, making for an unforgettable experience for all who attended? With any luck, maybe their next visit will coincide with Valentine’s Day 2026.

RYAN ELLIS

Photos by Muhammad Imran