The Hordern Pavilion is packed tonight, and from the moment The Acacia Strain hit the stage, the security guards have their work cut out. Bodies pour over the barrier in wave after wave, with barely enough time to clear one crowd surfer before the next arrives. It’s going to be one of those nights.
Massachusetts heavyweights The Acacia Strain waste no time getting things moving. Their punishing mix of hardcore, sludge and deathcore sends the crowd into overdrive, turning the Hordern floor into a mass of flailing limbs. It’s a brutal opening from a band with more than two decades of experience behind them.
Next up are Tennessee deathcore veterans Whitechapel, who bring their own brand of sonic punishment to Sydney. Formed in 2006, the band have spent two decades helping shape the genre, and their performance makes it clear why they remain such a formidable live act. The crowd barely gets a chance to recover before the next assault begins.
As the stage is prepared for Lorna Shore, the audience is treated to a playlist that seems to have wandered in from an entirely different concert. Shania Twain, Belinda Carlisle and finally Bonnie Tyler blast through the Hordern’s speakers. It’s a peculiar soundtrack for a room full of deathcore fans, but somehow it works. There’s something particularly entertaining about hearing Bonnie Tyler just moments before all hell breaks loose.
And when Lorna Shore finally arrive, subtlety is nowhere to be found.
The pyrotechnics are enough to singe your eyebrows off, with towering flames and a barrage of sound announcing the arrival of New Jersey’s deathcore heavyweights. The Hordern erupts, and the crowd surfing continues at a relentless pace.
Frontman Will Ramos is a commanding presence, his extraordinary vocal range moving between monstrous gutturals and piercing screams. Behind him, the band combine ferocious blast beats, intricate guitar work and sweeping orchestral arrangements into something that is as technically impressive as it is physically overwhelming.
It’s easy to see why Lorna Shore have become one of extreme metal’s biggest success stories. Since the release of Immortal in 2020 and their breakthrough EP …And I Return To Nothingness the following year, they’ve moved from underground favourites to an international force. Their fifth album, I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me, released in 2025, has only strengthened that position.
Having sold out their first Australian headline tour in February 2025 and returned for Good Things Festival later that year, Lorna Shore are now playing their biggest Australian headline shows yet.
Tonight, the Hordern is a sea of raised arms, flying bodies and faces illuminated by bursts of fire. The security team certainly earns its money, and the crowd shows no signs of slowing down.
Images Deb Pelser
The tour moves to Brisbane and NZ next, tickets HERE.
