Artist Profile: Adam de Micco of Lorna Shore Talks Inspiration, Emotion, and Breaking Genre

At the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival in Worcester, Massachusetts last Saturday, Adam de Micco, lead guitarist of New Jersey-formed deathcore outfit Lorna Shore, took the time to talk all about what inspires him when crafting his band’s innovative and genre-breaking music, most recently captured on their fifth studio album “I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me,” released Sept. 12.

In an interview with The Crimson, De Micco got straight to talking about musical inspiration, citing especial reverence for Necrophagist’s “Epitaph” as a source of musical insight, with a twinkle in his eye.

“It balances a lot of different emotions to me — s0 it’s aggressive, it’s melodic, it’s catchy, it’s just a lot of things going on at once,” he said.

Reflecting on Lorna Shore’s new album release and the start of their tour with fellow heavy metal bands Shadow of Intent, The Black Dahlia Murder, and PeelingFlesh, de Micco expressed his feelings towards being able to debut new music for the fans, almost three years after the release of their album “Pain Remains.”

“It’s exciting to finally play new songs,” de Micco said. “It’s more nerve wracking because you’re getting new songs familiar with, so that’s kind of the hard part.”

Commenting on their collaboration with other bands on tour, he noted his appreciation for his fellow heavy metal performers.

“We all love these bands, so it’s always cool to go on tour with bands that we listen to regularly,” he said.

Regarding the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival itself, de Micco expressed awe at the accompanying lineup of bands, enumerating an extensive list of fellow acts from memory, but paying significant regard to how it felt to headline and perform after death metal legends Cannibal Corpse.

“It’s kind of crazy because it’s a band I grew up on, a band I love. To be able to play after them is just kind of like, why? A little surreal, I won’t lie,” he said.

In discussing Lorna Shore’s newest release, de Micco had some highly insightful comments to make about the role that emotion plays in their extremely epic-sounding, yet introspective style of music.

“I think it plays the biggest role because I write songs from the perspective of emotion,” he said. “It tells the full picture of the story.”

This is also key in his creative process — when he senses a deep emotion, he finds himself drawn down that direction. From there he can transform the feeling into what we hear in the finished product.

His comments on the subject of genre — a hotly debated topic when it comes to Lorna Shore — were equally eye-opening, as he revealed his disdain for the suffocating nature of being put into a box as such.

“I don’t really believe in genres, honestly. I don’t think they serve a purpose, it becomes a limiting box. I don’t know what it adds, other than the fact that it’s a box. Do I think we’re a metal band? Yes. I’ve always seen the band in a heavy metal context. And it allows us more freedom to create, as opposed to if we just put a three-adjective characteristic on a sub-subgenre — the box becomes very narrow. I think [for] me, as someone who is creative, it just becomes very limiting,” he said.

When it comes to instruments, as a highly experienced practitioner of the guitar, de Micco enthusiastically explained what makes the stringed device so appealing.

“I think guitar is the coolest instrument that exists, so I love it. I think, for me, nailing a really difficult solo just feels really good. It’s almost like a mind over matter [achievement], almost similar to reaching a higher personal record in the gym or something like that,” he said.

Given Lorna Shore’s exciting rise in recent years, de Micco gave a perfectly ambiguous answer when asked about what the future holds for him and his bandmates.

“I don’t know. And I think that’s the beauty of it, leaving it out of our hands. I think white knuckling the wheel and trying to force something to happen never produces positive results. I think just trying to take this thing as far as we can take it, you know? I feel like not having a ceiling, not having an expectation, and not trying to force something to happen that won’t happen is just the way I’ve been approaching it, and it’s kind of worked so far,” he said.

As de Micco and his bandmates continue on their headlining tour, it’s clear that this free-spirited creativity is what is going to push them forward in their conquest of smashing through genre and playing from the heart.

“I’m gonna keep leaning into it,” de Micco said.

—Staff writer Rowan A. G. Whitworth can be reached at rowan.whitworth@thecrimson.com.