Why Deathcore Took the Lead at Aftershock This Year

We just concluded an amazing weekend at the Aftershock Festival this year and included some of our top acts. However, there are two bands on the lineup that stood out among the rest, for me…

Every year I look forward to this festival. It’s nothing new of note for those of you who know me personally. It helps that my husband, also a journalist, tag-teams with me on our assignments over the weekend, and as usual, he rocked it! We have more content to come, so stay tuned on that.

One of the things I want to take a moment to write about, though… is deathcore. It’s a subgenre I’m fairly new to as I expand my knowledge in the metal scene. Might I say that I’ve been nothing short of impressed after this recent dive in my research.

To summarize…

Early in its inception, deathcore was a small group of bands that didn’t have near as much respect in the industry as they should have. Diehard fans can argue about how that’s changed and why. I personally think that deathcore as a whole will receive even more acclaim to come. Aftershock’s acts this weekend proved just that to me.

While we wrote a little about Whitechapel this weekend, we absolutely must nod to one of the originals in the subgenre. The band began their performance showcasing their original logo in the background. You could see fans quiver with excitement as soon as the music began to play.

And like the theatric masters as they were, Whitechapel began with their newest song, “A Visceral Retch.”

The single has particularly caught the attention of the hardcore fans and audiophiles with its grittier vocals and absolutely wicked lyrics and techniques. And like showcasing the old logo, it leaned into the band’s first era and their roots. They also mixed things up with heavier-than-ever drums and shredding guitar and bass. The rest of their performance at the Coors Light stage brought in even more heat as the sun set below the horizon.

Lorna Shore was another top act. Being the older but “new kids on the block” with their newest vocalist and album, the band has rapidly gained new fans on social media. With their newest era unveiling peak-pandemic, fans were hungry to dig into the lore behind songs like “To The Hellfire” and break down the intense techniques pulled from deathcore in ways little seen until this point. The heartbreaking album that followed, The Pain Remains, made fans even hungrier to witness the renewal of this band live.

I always wanted to write a really sad death metal song, a deathcore love song. When I first heard the music, it had so much emotion – have you ever fallen in love in a dream and woken up and realized that none of it was real? It’s about chasing that emotion.”

~ Will Ramos | vocalist of Lorna Shore

The performance did not disappoint, to say at least.

Complimented with pyrotechnics and a packed crowd, the mosh pits left a gaping split along the entire length of the stage. Crowd surfers floated to the barricade and the band leaned into that energy fully and openly. I was floored by the level of skill each band member had as they dropped insane riffs and the drums thundered through my veins. Will Ramos’s vocals were sung out proud and seemingly effortlessly.

Deathcore may be a smaller genre in the scene, but it’s standing proud and seems like it has much more to come. All I know for sure is that myself and plenty of other fans, new and old, are hungry for more.