LIVE REVIEW: LORNA SHORE + WHITECHAPEL + THE ACACIA STRAIN @ RIVERSTAGE BRISBANE 23/10/26
Words & Photos Steph Ure
Metal bros arriving in swarms on electric scooters, metal babes dressed in black sparkles and pink, kids attending their first concert with their parents, your typical metal daddies, banana men, hotdog dudes and even our No Barriers favourite regular Metal Mario. Brisbane's Riverstage was filling with a weird and wonderful family of metalheads, all gathering for one purpose: a metal as fuck night with three iconic American bands.
With an almost sold-out Riverstage preparing for an evening of deathcore, heavy riffs and absolute chaos, Lorna Shore brought their Australian headline tour to Brisbane alongside Whitechapel and The Acacia Strain. Three bands with distinctive sounds, united by a love of heavy music and the community surrounding it.
Opening the evening were Massachusetts heavyweights The Acacia Strain, led by vocalist Vincent Bennett. Known for their crushing breakdowns, downtempo heaviness and unapologetically aggressive sound, the band wasted no time introducing Brisbane to what was coming.
Bennett ran across the stage delivering guttural vocals with impressive control while cheekily flicking water towards the crowd. The bassist was loving a good hair flick, the drummer enthusiastically headbanged behind his kit, and the entire band performed with musical cohesion.
With tracks including ‘Whoa! Shut It Down’, ‘Dr. Doom’, ‘Beast’ and ‘Carbomb’ appearing throughout their set, The Acacia Strain brought relentless rhythmic aggression, heavy breakdowns and enough energy to get Brisbane moving.
Bennett encouraged the circle pit to get weird, and the crowd happily obliged. An influx of crowd surfers followed, setting the tone for a wonderfully chaotic evening.
Finishing with the same intensity they started with, Bennett thanked everyone he could see, and everyone he couldn't, for coming out, sending the band off with a heartfelt declaration of love for the crowd.
The Acacia Strain weren't interested in gently warming everyone up. They came to start something, and Brisbane was more than happy to participate.
Next were Tennessee deathcore veterans Whitechapel, fronted by Phil Bozeman. If The Acacia Strain started the chaos, Whitechapel were about to take it up another notch.
From the opening moments, the band delivered an impressive balance of chaos and control. The photography pit quickly became a busy intersection of photographers, security guards and an endless supply of crowd surfers arriving from the second song.
Their musicianship was particularly impressive, with intricate guitar work, sick rhythms and synchronisation between instrumentalists that was genuinely mesmerising. Each musician had opportunities to shine individually while contributing to the cohesive melodies and heaviness that make Whitechapel's music so recognisable.
Drawing from their earlier catalogue and 2025's Hymns in Dissonance, their Brisbane set featured tracks including ‘Prisoner 666’, ‘A Visceral Retch’ and ‘Hate Cult Ritual’.
One memorable moment came when the band paused, leaving the crowd chanting, “White-chapel! White-chapel!” As the instruments gradually rejoined the rhythm, the lights revealed the drummer sporting horns behind his kit.
Bozeman thanked Brisbane for supporting heavy music before announcing they were about to play some old shit, and with that came ‘The Somatic Defilement’ and ‘Devirgination Studies’, taking the crowd back to their brutal 2007 debut album.
The energy lifted again with screaming vocals, heavy instrumentation and flashing lights, while the drummer's signature stick movements added another entertaining visual element. Between songs, the stage fell into darkness and silence, teasing the audience into another round of enthusiastic chanting before the next wave of musical aggression.
The mosh pit had become a wild, sweaty space for releasing pent-up emotion, with strangers coming together through their shared love of heavy music. There's something special about the metal community and its ability to create belonging in the middle of absolute chaos.
Whitechapel finished hard and fast, building beautifully on the energy established by The Acacia Strain and leaving Brisbane ready for the headliners.
As the stage was prepared for Lorna Shore, Brisbane's unpredictable weather decided to join the chaos. Rain began falling across Riverstage, doing little to dampen the enthusiasm of the metalheads eagerly awaiting the band.
The crowd entertained themselves with enthusiastic singalongs while an impressive Lorna Shore banner was hung to cover the front of the stage to Shania Twain's ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman!’ and Bonnie Tyler's ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’. Because apparently nothing prepares a crowd for symphonic deathcore quite like a little rain and Shania Twain and Bonnie Tyler singalongs.
The music faded, the chanting began, and Brisbane was ready.
Formed in New Jersey in 2009, Lorna Shore have become one of modern deathcore's most recognisable names, combining extreme metal with symphonic arrangements and impressive emotional depth. Fronted by Will Ramos, the band continued their rise following 2022's Pain Remains and 2025's I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me.
As the opening instrumental built, the stage banner dropped and the crowd erupted. So did the pyrotechnics. Fire exploded from the opening song, introducing a visually spectacular performance showing absolutely no intention of slowing down.
Ramos demanded Brisbane open up the circle pit, and the crowd responded immediately. Guitarists Adam De Micco and Andrew O'Connor delivered impressive precision and intensity, while bassist Michael Yager and drummer Austin Archey provided the powerful rhythmic foundation beneath Ramos' extraordinary vocal range.
With songs including ‘Oblivion’, ‘Unbreakable’, ‘War Machine’ and ‘In Darkness’ featuring in the Brisbane set, newer material sat comfortably alongside fan favourites such as ‘Of the Abyss’ and ‘Into the Earth’.
Rapid flashes, dramatic darkness and enormous bursts of fire illuminated the stage. Combined with visual backdrops reminiscent of an old television broadcast filled with static and distorted imagery, the production felt like old-school metal theatrics meeting modern technology. It worked beautifully and visually matched the band's unique and distinct vibe as artists.
Guitar solos cut through the chaos, Ramos' guttural screams and unique piggy squeals pushed the energy higher, and the audience responded with an almost continuous stream of crowd surfers. Ramos split the crowd, yelling, “Banana men, hotdog dudes, split the crowd. Let's get wild!”
What started as four metalheads dressed as two bananas and two hotdogs quickly became an ongoing theme, with the crowd eagerly anticipating their next moment in the spotlight and Brisbane feeling like they shared a little inside joke with the band.
Ramos enthusiastically embraced the ridiculousness, using the bananas and hotdogs as markers to divide the crowd for a wall of death. The four costumed legends were absolutely loving their newfound responsibilities, playing along as thousands of metalheads prepared to charge towards one another.
It was hilarious, wonderfully chaotic and a brilliant example of Ramos' connection with his audience.
But amongst the feral chaos, Lorna Shore also demonstrated the emotion beneath their music. Ramos acknowledged the significance of the evening, celebrating a birthday and reflecting on Brisbane being the final Australian stop of the tour.
Introducing the Pain Remains material, he spoke about the importance of the songs and invited Brisbane to bring him home. The crowd responded together.
The Pain Remains trilogy, beginning with ‘Pain Remains I: Dancing Like Flames’ and continuing through ‘Pain Remains II: After All I've Done, I'll Disappear’ and ‘Pain Remains III: In a Sea of Fire’, balances devastating heaviness with melodic beauty and genuine emotion. After an evening of relentless intensity, these moments gave the performance another dimension.
With the final song bringing the musical chaos to a close, Lorna Shore had given Brisbane everything they had. But the evening wasn't quite finished.
Ramos thanked the touring crew, management and wider family travelling together, inviting members of the touring family onto the stage for a wonderfully wholesome moment. The contrast was delightful.
One minute, the crowd was witnessing feral screams, fire and absolute musical destruction. The next, Ramos was enthusiastically organising everyone for a group photograph and calling after bandmates attempting to leave the stage.
With a final enthusiastic “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” and heartfelt thanks to Brisbane, Lorna Shore said their goodbyes. Three bands, three distinctive performances and one wonderfully chaotic community of metalheads.
The Acacia Strain established the intensity, Whitechapel built on it with impressive musicianship and control, and Lorna Shore brought everything together with a visually spectacular and emotionally charged headline performance.
From circle pits and crowd surfers to bananas, hotdogs, rain, pyrotechnics and genuinely wholesome moments between musicians, Brisbane experienced an evening celebrating everything wonderful about heavy music.
It was sweaty, chaotic, intense, occasionally ridiculous, slightly damp and absolutely metal as fuck. Exactly how it should be.
