Paleface Swiss review: ‘One to watch in the Deathcore scene’

Since forming in Switzerland in 2017, Paleface Swiss have enjoyed an impressive rise to prominence. In 2019, the four-piece performed their first show outside their native country at Manchester’s Fall In The Ball at Rebellion before returning to the city in 2022 to perform their first ever headline show at Star and Garter with an audience of “three people”. Now just three years later, they headlined the New Century Hall in front of 1,300 people and have recently earned the nickname the “deathcore Slipknot”—a” testament to how far the four-piece have come in such a short space of time.

And it’s easy to see why they’ve come so far.

As the four-piece prepared to take to the stage, the hangman’s noose above Cassiano Toma’s drumkit was bathed in a sea of red lighting as the eerie and unsettling ‘Un Pobre Niño Murió’ echoed throughout the New Century Hall before an explosive rendition of ‘Hatred’ set the tone for a performance that would be dark and thrilling.

Early in the set, the raw and powerful ‘Suppressing Times’ provided an opportunity for Yannick Lehmann’s chugging guitar riffs and Marc Zellweger’s guttural screams to stand out before a rendition of the dark and somewhat haunting ‘My Blood On Your Hands’ delivers an impressive spoken-word-esque vocal performance from Zellweger.

The band maintained a relentless pace on stage as they blitzed through tracks. The thrashy ‘Youth Decay’ is a rollercoaster littered with twists, turns, beatdowns, and seamless transitions between growling and clean vocals; the riff-driven ‘And With Hope You’ll Be Damned’ explodes with some heavy guitar chugs and is a head-banger in a live setting before Zellweger climbs into the crowd and sparks chants of “F*** my life, F*** my soul, F*** my whole life up” in ‘Nail to the Tooth.’

Throughout the evening, the band demonstrated a love of theatrical elements. Following a riveting performance of ‘Don’t You Ever Stop’ that was complemented by a guitar and drum solo, the hangman’s noose was lit up as a dark and ominous soundscape played throughout the venue before a rendition of the Breaking Benjamin-esque ‘River of Sorrows’, which is given an extra kick thanks to a tremendous solo from Lehmann.

As the first portion of the set came to an end, Zellweger’s impressive melodic singing took centre stage in ‘The Gallow’, the stripped-back and rap-infused ‘Enough’ is an interesting change-up before Zellweger urges the band to “bring back that old school s***” to massive cheers.

Prior to the encore, the noose was once again lit up as another ominous message littered with the sound of hysterical screams and crickets played throughout the venue, fittingly leading into a rendition of the hard-hitting ‘Pain’ that saw Zellweger and Tommy Lee begin dancing before the former guides the crowd into a singalong for the Slipknot-esque ‘Love Burns’ to wrap up the show.

As evidenced by the venues getting bigger, Paleface Swiss are more in demand than ever before, and after a tremendous show, it’s safe to say they are one to watch in the deathcore scene.