On Monday, May 11th, 2026, the kings of deathcore, Lorna Shore, visited The Ritz in Raleigh, North Carolina, as one of their stops on their North American spring 2026 tour. Joining them on stage are fellow deathcore monsters Signs of the Swarm and Paleface Swiss. This loaded tour has been running since April 17th and will be wrapping up within the next week or so, on May 22nd. Personally, I have seen a ton of content on social media from this tour, and it was making me so excited to see this show. I am sure a lot of other fans felt the same way!
SIGNS OF THE SWARM
To start off this massive show, Signs of the Swarm hit the stage at exactly 7pm. These guys have basically been touring non-stop for the last few years, so I have seen them about 5 or 6 times within those few years already. It doesn't matter how many times I see them, though; they are always incredible to see perform, and they bring so much energy to every show. I have never seen a bad set from Signs of the Swarm. Right off the bat, the crowd was losing their minds to their opening song, "To Rid Myself of Truth." There were crowd surfers and tons of people moshing through the whole set, but even still, vocalist David Simonich was teasing them. At one point he even said, "Come on! I have seen more movement at EDM shows!" Which riled the crowd up even more. I thought that the set list was a perfect representation of what Signs has to offer recently. The setlist consisted of songs such as,"Tower of Torsos," "HELLMUSTFEARME," "I WON'T LET YOU DIE," and the absolute banger, "Amongst the Low and Empty."
MY RATING OF THIS SET: 4 pairs of plaid pants out of 5
I think this set deserves a solid 4 out of 5. Signs of the Swarm are always very consistent with their performances (right down to David always wearing the same plaid pants every time I have seen them perform). Their sound is monstrous, with booming bass and heart-shaking bass drops. David's vocals are always disgusting and shocking to hear, in the best way possible. You really can't go wrong catching a show with Signs of the Swarm on the bill!
PALEFACE SWISS
Now THIS is a set that I have been absolutely dying to see! Paleface Swiss, all the way from Zürich, Switzerland, was the 2nd band to perform on this bill. I have never been able to see them live before, and my expectations were high. Boy, oh boy, those expectations were truly blown out of the water! All of the band members were so energetic, and the crowd was feeding that energy right back to them. With heavier deathcore bands like this, it is always a fear of mine that they won't be able to reproduce that heaviness live, but there's no denying that these guys know exactly what they're doing! Their set was long-lasting, about an hour in length, but it did not feel like it was that long. All of the songs felt like they fit appropriately in the set, without creating lulls or getting boring. Half of their set was songs from their recent album, "Cursed." The other half was a good mix of their other two albums. They played songs such as "Hatred," "Nail to the Tooth," "Withering Flower," and "Let Me Sleep," and they finished their set with "Please End Me."
MY RATING OF THIS SET: 4.5 Swiss men out of 5
Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this set. The sound was great, the song choices were great, and the energy was incredible. I am so thankful I finally got a chance to see Paleface Swiss perform! I would highly recommend any avid deathcore listener to check them out if they are playing near them.
LORNA SHORE
After the last two amazing acts, finally, Lorna Shore took the stage. This show was sold out, and I am fairly certain the venue oversold tickets for this show. The room was packed and everyone was excited for Lorna Shore to play. As soon as they hit the stage, the crowd went crazy. There were non-stop crowd-surfers, and at one point, I believe I saw that there were three separate mosh pits going on. It was an incredible experience to see everyone so hype for this performance! Obviously, the deathcore kings sounded phenomenal. Everything sounded perfect and just like the songs. Despite seeing Lorna Shore perform numerous times before and thinking they were great each of those times, I can tell that they have really elevated and locked in their performances within the recent years. All of the members had great stage presence!
Lorna Shore played an hour long set, which included a good amount of songs from their recent album, "I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me." Aside from their encore, all of the other songs were off of "Pain Remains." This was surprising to me, as I expected them to perform songs from their older albums, but I still thought the set was great! They played some of their top songs like, "Unbreakable," "Glenwood," and "Oblivion." They even played all three parts of "Pain Remains." To top off the night, of course, they played "To the Hellfire."
MY RATING OF THIS SET: 4.5 symphonic pig squeals out of 5
Lorna Shore is definitely one of the best in the metal scene right now. They are incredibly consistent live, and always give the crowd what they want. The music is technical and mind-blowing to see performed live. Needless to say, it is worth going to see them perform, if you're able to snag a ticket before they sell out!
This tour is still kicking, but only for a little over a week now. If this tour makes it to a city near you and it hasn't sold out, do yourself a favor and grab a ticket! You won't regret it!
