LIVE REVIEW

LORNA SHORE, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, SHADOW OF INTENT

Three American extreme metal powerhouses—Shadow Of Intent, The Black Dahlia Murder, and Lorna Shore—tore through Toronto on a night of blistering riffs, sick gutturals, and blinding lights. Each band dominated their sets: Shadow Of Intent showcased their ferocious precision, TBDM shook the venue with a set honoring their legacy and late vocalist, Trevor Strnad, and Lorna Shore delivered an emotional, genre-defining masterclass with a carefully curated set-list of some of their best!

SHADOW OF INTENT

On a night of a lot of changes, Shadow Of Intent made their presence known with a guest vocalist not just for this night but for the whole tour. Adam Mercer subbed in on lead vocals for Ben Duerr, also with the help of Andrew Monias. I can’t imagine doing this for just any band, but since this was the end of the tour, everything was dialed in. This extremely and technically proficient deathcore band just released a new album, Imperium Delirium, back in June of this year and absolutely dominated the short and intense setlist. Adam made sure throughout the set to point out certain songs and forcefully asked the crowd to keep it up! At the end of the set, Adam even expressed his gratitude to the audience. The odd song from the setlist was ‘The Heretic Prevails’, which was not on the new album but is one of the fan favourites from the discography of the band; it was with this song that the symphonic notes and melodies screamed over the speakers to finish out this set.

SETLIST
‘Prepare To Die’, ‘Flying The Black Flag’, ‘Mechanical Chaos’, ‘Vehement Draconian Vengeance’, ‘Infinity Of Horrors’, ‘Feeding The Meatgrinder’, ‘The Heretic Prevails’

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER

After the number of concerts I’ve attended in my lifetime, it is becoming increasingly rare to experience genuine firsts; this set had a few firsts for me and some rare moments as well. Entering the stage with one of the biggest pops from me and seemingly from others, “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” also known as “Dawn,” filled the theatre halls as the band approached the stage. Almost instantly, Brian Eschbach asked us for a favour right out of the gate: “I need your fists in the air so we can punch the ceiling.” I have to commend Brian; these were not easy shoes to fill in this position in the band, but his command of the helm continues to get better each and every time I see them in recent years, further impressing me by asking everyone in the audience after they go home to listen to Peeling Flesh, who couldn’t be here tonight due to border issues earlier in the tour.

There were a few intense moments during this performance; firstly, the movement of people on the theatre floor was so fierce that the literal grounds of this brand-new venue were shaking, mimicking an earthquake. Secondly, on the floor is a sound booth situated somewhat in the middle of the area, and the crowd formed a circle pit around the soundboard in an absolute frenzy of activity, which was jaw-dropping to witness. Because of Halloween, a buddy Christ figure was in the mosh pit, at certain times with an inflatable banana. The melodic death metal notes absolutely shone here like no other night that I’ve seen this band previously to date, which makes me want to see them on a tour for that subgenre exclusively.

New music should be on the horizon, as the band is still playing stages with the latest release, Servitude, from 2024. This non-headline setlist was dominated by songs from previous decades, rather than the newest album. This set brought out something absolutely primordial in the crowd to a feverish pitch for the almost non-stop 40-minute set. It is still nice to this day. This band still pays tribute to “the brother who is not here.” RIP Trevor Strnad.

SETLIST
‘What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse’, ‘Everything Went Black’, ‘Nightbringers’, ‘A Vulgar Picture’, ‘Nocturnal’, ‘Statutory Ape’, ‘Cursed Creator’, ‘Unhallowed’, ‘Funeral Thirst’, ‘Deathmask Divine’

LORNA SHORE

This band’s progression has been incredible to witness as a fan, not from day one, but the venues and the climb from their first appearance to this show are something that should be researched further. They are absolutely putting in the work, and it’s turned into a six-week North American tour. A large backdrop blocked the stage, and over the speakers, ominous music with crickets chirping, thuds of a drum, and a timer just counting down led into the just over eight-minute song, ‘Oblivion’, the first single off of the brand new album I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me, which was released just days before the start of this run of shows.

Will Ramos on vocals is in the running for one of the most dynamic vocalists from a range and style perspective, if not in this genre, then in all genres right now; to float and flow through screams, gutturals, and clean singing damn near effortlessly is something that has to be seen in person, and he shows love to the crowd throughout the night, reminding us often how awesome we are on this night and that them being on stage can’t be done without everyone showing up. The rest of the band musically put the crowd through the paces of something tribal and at times very emotional for close to 80 minutes, including a longer-than-normal encore in my experience at shows with a trilogy of songs off the 2022 album Pain Remains: “I heard you wanted one more song; you are getting three.” The crowd was putting in the work as well, with a lot of movement on the floor, in the pit, and numerous people crowd-surfing. Visually, the graphics on the screen and backdrop absolutely complemented the music. A very special shout-out to ‘Glenwood’ for going above and beyond with the super emotional encore. This single song caused many people in the audience to cry, as the music was so well-suited to the video playing.

Lorna Shore, playing in Toronto, put on an absolute masterclass of the deathcore genre, if not paying homage to it directly, then redefining the genre with equal parts finesse and symphonic moments and extreme aggressive tones. Even though it was a Monday night, the wide range of concert goers who showed up proved that the start of the week is just another day and that this lineup was worth the gamble of either an extended long weekend or toughing it out the next day at work!

SETLIST
‘Oblivion’, ‘Unbreakable’, ‘Of The Abyss’, ‘Sun//Eater’, ‘Cursed To Die’, ‘Into The Earth’, ‘Glenwood’, ‘Prison Of Flesh’, ‘To The Hellfire’, ‘Dancing Like Flames’, ‘Pain Remains II: After All I’ve Done, I’ll Disappear’, ‘Pain Remains III: In A Sea Of Fire’