AUSTIN ARCHEY On LORNA SHORE: “I Wouldn’t Even Call Us Deathcore Anymore”

Lorna Shore have spent the last few years at the center of modern extreme metal’s conversations about genre and what deathcore even means in the modern day. Now, drummer Austin Archey is addressing that debate head-on.

Speaking on the Brutality Podcast (as transcribed by Metal Injection), Archey reflected on Lorna Shore‘s evolution, the backlash they’ve faced from genre purists, and why he believes the band may have unintentionally sparked a wider deathcore revival — even as they’ve moved beyond the label themselves.

Before diving into genre lines, Archey made it clear where his heart is: with the scene itself. “Number one, I’m the biggest fan and advocate for this movement and scene and people and kids,” he said. “Even if you’re older and you want to come back — if you want to play deathcore and you’re fifty, let’s go. Let’s rock. Any age welcome.”

Archey acknowledged the criticism Lorna Shore have faced from some corners of the scene, particularly accusations that the band isn’t “real” deathcore anymore. “I always think about where people shit on us, like ‘they’re not deathcore,’ because we’ve kind of rattled the boat a little bit of what deathcore could be,” he said.

Rather than pushing back defensively, Archey embraced the idea — and went further. “I wouldn’t even call us deathcore anymore,” he admitted. “We have deathcore roots, but we are a metal band, and we are an extreme metal band at this rate.”

As Lorna Shore‘s sound has expanded to incorporate symphonic elements, blackened textures, and a more cinematic scope, the band has increasingly existed outside traditional genre boxes. And according to Archey, that friction may have had an unexpected upside.

Archey suggested that the constant debate over Lorna Shore’s classification may have actually driven listeners back toward classic deathcore — reigniting interest in the very sound critics felt the band had abandoned. “Because people were labeling us deathcore so much, and then the ‘that’s not real deathcore, this is real deathcore’ discussion came up, people started to tune into what real deathcore was,” he said.

Rather than resenting the criticism, Archey sees Lorna Shore‘s role as a kind of catalyst — even if that meant taking some heat along the way. “If we were the martyr on the sword for the MySpace deathcore revival because people wanted real deathcore,” he said, “guess what? So did I.”

Though more importantly, Archey seems at peace with the band’s present and future — wherever it leads. “I’m in a very good place in life with everything going on,” Archey added. “And again, where our sound evolves, who knows? We could get sick of whatever and just write heavy stuff one day and just be sick of it. Who knows?”