CONCERT REVIEW: Lorna Shore - Currents - Rivers Of Nihil - Varials - Entheos Live at The Worcester Palladium

Ahhh, Christmas time. A time when the family gets together, sits by the fire, trade stories back and forth… and moshes. That’s right folks, it may have been 5 days before Christmas but that didn’t stop Will and the boys from putting together a handful of Christmas shows complete with deathcore Christmas trees and lights a plenty!

A Very Lorna Shore Christmas rolled through the Worcester Palladium on December 20th for the first of a three night run to ring in the holidays with the likes of Lorna Shore. Currents, Rivers Of Nihl, Varials, and Entheos. So enough stalling! Dawn your Santa hats and let’s run this shit!

Getting there a few minutes late due to holiday traffic and it being a Wednesday night, I missed the very beginning of Entheos’ set but only by a song or two. Entheos has been blowing up as of late touring alongside the likes of Unearth and Revocation on their recent co-headline tour with secondary support from High Command as well as touring with Whitechapel and Archspire, needless to say, they kinda whip. Running a throttling set that for sure set the tone for the night, go check out Entheos.

After Entheos left it all out on the stage, we have act two of five coming to bat in Varials. Yet another band that has been gaining a ton of traction as of late due to their latest record Scars For You To Remember (Fearless Records), still being in a constant rotation for many people. Having just done two giant tours this year with the newly reunited D.R.U.G.S. and The Callous Daoboys as well as supporting Polaris on their headline tour with Currents who also happens to be on this bill as well. Let me tell ya, what a switch up from Entheos Varials was but I’ll be god-dammnd if it wasn’t a good time. Looking like the friendliest group of dudes from your college lacrosse team, Varials opened up the floor and the stage for the rest of the night and it didn’t let up for even one second… just the way I like it. Charisma and bounce of a hip-hop show with the brutality of a beatdown band. If you need a band to go to the gym with, look now further than Varials.

On to recent European tour mates of Lorna Shore, filling in the middle spot of the show, Pennsylvania’s own Rivers of Nihil. Coming to the stage in an understated red glow, Adam Biggs and the boys wasted no time showing the Palladium why they’ve been a constant reigning champ in the realm of technical death metal running thru a quick, dirty, and visceral set packed with old and new songs. Closing out with “Where The Owls Know My Name” was to be expected but nevertheless awesome as always.

Connecticut came to play this evening as well in the form of a little band called Currents. Jesus Christ, this band had no business going as hard as they did. Still riding high off of the success of their 2023 release The Death We Seek (Sharptone), Brian Wille and the boys wasted less than no time with giving the crowd a show to remember that very easily could’ve been the headline set and everyone would’ve been happy. Running through a little bit of everything, 9 songs in total, there wasn’t a person in that room that wasn’t foaming at the mouth for more. And thankfully, we don’t need to wait much longer for more. Vocalist Brian stated that the band will be playing at the Webster Underground on January 27th alongside Shadow of Intent, Boundaries, and Fuming Mouth.

Lorna Shore, ladies and mentlegen! What can be said about this band that hasn’t already been said. Sold out tours all over the world, festival dates all over, an album that won tons of awards the year it came out, Pain Remains (Century Media), and the revitalization of an entire genre seemingly put on their shoulders. These dudes have a lot going on, including this show. Dawning Santa hats and bright neon guitars, Will Ramos and the boys made their presence know to anyone in a 6 mile radius. Bass so low you could feel it in bones and was visibly shaking the air molecules around you, I have video to prove it. Opening with “Welcome Back, O’ Sleeping Dreamer” we knew that this was going to be a show that would go down as something special. Going thru everything that has brought them to this point Lorna Shore pulled no punches. “Of The Abyss” and “Sun//Eater” brought the thunder and then they pulled out “Immortal” and I lost my goddamn mind, as did everyone else. Guitarist Adam De Micco truly showed off his musical chops and flexed his muscle on this show, leading the sonic charge time and time again while understatedly crushing the stage with his bright neon orange and yellow Ibanez. Closing out the show with “To The Hellfire” – Will showed that he is not an actual human but actually an alien created in a lab. The encore was the band playing the Pain Remains trilogy and we all collectively got in our feels closing out a phenomenal night.