Zurich-Based Deathcore band Paleface Swiss brought the feral, rage fuelled energy of “The Cursed Tour” to their first major headlining show at SWG3 on Thursday night, having their venue upgraded not once, but twice due to popular demand. It seems Paleface Swiss underestimated just how much the Scottish metal scene loves them.
The night kicked off with a vocal punch to the face in the form of English Hardcore band Desolated. The crowd wasted no time getting into the groove. Once the first distorted guitar riff blasted out of the speakers, the pit opened up and the energetic hardcore fans made their presence known to both band and fellow audience members alike, flinging themselves into each other and spin kicking like they were fighting for their lives.
The band then went on to play their newest Single, BITE DOWN, to which the crowd reached it’s moshing peak, with not just a couple, but a couple dozen Crowd surfers. Evidently the lead singer, Tony Evans, wasn’t expecting such an impassioned response, remarking “THIS IS F***ING INCREDIBLE” as he witnessed the energy of the crowd with a wide smile across his face.
A moment of humour that perfectly encapsulates the duality of the metal scene was when two people in the crowd, dressed in full body banana costumes were called to crowd surf up to the front, which was met with laughter from band and audience alike.
Evidently a fan favourite, “Death By My Side” concluded what was easily one of the most engaged support crowds I had ever witnessed at a gig before.
The second support, American Deathcore band The Acacia Strain then took to the stage. Starting with the opening track from their 2023 album “Step Into The Light”, The Acacia Strain made themselves heard by everyone, whether they wanted to or not.
The bombastic vocalist, Vincent Bennett, gave a little speech about the band’s simple goal for the night. “We only care about one thing….Have a good F***ING time”. The crowd certainly did just that. The energy was not only maintained from Desolated, but increased substantially, thanks to the steadily increasing audience size.
Once their next song was done, Bennett gave a very touching and clearly from the heart speech about the importance of positivity and kindness in the metal community, which was met with nothing but cheers and applause, proving his point perfectly.
During one of their last song, Desolated’s vocalist burst onto the stage to sing part of the chorus instead of Bennett, clearly having the time of his life doing it.
At the end of The Acacia Strain’s set, Bennet called for one last Circle Pit, by far the largest one of the night so far. The song “The Hills Have Eyes” slowed to a menacing, lumbering pace as the moshers got ready. With some of the most unhinged vocals of the night so far, the crowd charged, and the pit became a seething mass of bodies.
Next up, the main attraction and the reason most people were there that night, Paleface Swiss. The lights dimmed and the ominous and unsettling intro track to their new “Cursed” album, “un pobre niño murió”, a track inspired by a traditional Canary Islands lullaby, but altered into something far more unsettling, started playing. This set the tone for the type of music we were about to hear, which featured songs from all of Paleface Swiss‘ small but mighty discography. Another notable feature of the performance was the inclusion of a tall and ominously lit wooden gallows with a large noose hung above the drum set, the noose being Paleface Swiss‘ signature logo. The intro ended and the band appeared on stage to deafening cheers from the audience. The band spared no time and launched straight into “Hatred”, the first song from their new album “Cursed”. Frontman Marc “Zelli” Zellweger’s vocals were raw, unhinged, fast and fuelled by hate and pain, but he was clearly having as much fun as the audience was.
During a break between tracks, Zelli told the audience of Paleface Swiss’ history playing in Glasgow. The last time they had headlined was at the considerably smaller Classic Grand venue. A handful of people in the audience cheered at this, evidently being day one fans who have followed the massive rise Paleface has experienced over the last few years.
A definite highlight of the night was the interaction between Zelli and a couple of fans at the barrier who had brought a custom-made Scottish flag with the phrase “Peely-Wally Face Swiss” in the usual aggressive deathcore text style. This is a reference to a viral video from Scottish deathcore band Bleed From Within, wherein the members of Bleed From Within were teaching their supporting bands, of which Paleface Swiss was one of them, different Scottish expressions, one such expression being “Peely-Wally”, which literally means Pale. This brought a huge smile to Zelli and the other band members, who proudly draped the flag over the stage.
More outrageously heavy vocals accompanied the song “Nail To The Tooth”. Zelli had earlier commented that as this tour was near its end, his voice was struggling, so he asked the audience assisted him with the very simple but catchy chorus. The audience absolutely delivered, bellowing “F**K MY LIFE UP, F**K MY SOUL, F**K MY WHOLE LIFE UP”. To inject my own personal opinion here for a second, as a frequent metal gig attender, this show had some of the best crowd energy I had ever experienced.
The crowd’s energy seemed endless. When Zelli screamed “GET YOUR ASSSES READY, FOR THE FIRST TIME, THIS IS…THE GALLOW!” The audience moved as one, opening up the mosh pit and sending crowd surfer after crowd surfer towards the barrier. Once the last heavy guitar riff finished, there was a brief respite in the set.
In a moment of what I can only describe as a huge middle finger to toxic masculinity and homophobic individuals, frontman Zelli and drummer Cassiano “Cassi” Toma walked out on stage, embraced and shared a kiss on the lips. Zelli stated that if anyone in this audience felt offended or disgusted by this pure and frankly delightful interaction, they were welcome to, in so many words, “F**K Off”.
This moment served as a sort of prelude to probably their most unique track from the new album. The song “Enough?” is a fascinating blend of Hip Hop and Deathcore, with the first half of the song consisting of cleaner vocals and a more rap style of vocals, backed by an eerie but still funky beat. The lyrics are very blunt in their meaning and who they’re meant for, with Zelli calling out hyper masculine men who feel the need to criticise when men show kindness to each other. The unique aspect of “Enough?” is that halfway through, the song returns to Paleface’s signature deathcore style and contains easily some of their heaviest vocals and instrumentals on the album.
The penultimate song of the main setlist came in the form of the sombre but beautiful ballad like closing track of the “Cursed” album, “River Of Sorrows”. The crowd gave it their all when singing along, and several people with purple stickers over their phone torches light up the stage in a mix of white and purple light. Once this was finished, Zelli attempted to briefly talk about how important it is to check on your friends who are going through tough times, however the audience had other ideas, and a chant of “No Scotland, No Party” started. Once the chants were done, Zelli continued his speech, “This place feels like home” he said, beaming to the audience. This was then followed by perhaps their most popular song by far, “Please End Me”, a fitting end to the main setlist.
Once this was done, there was the intermission before the encore that was accompanied by the disturbing intro track “666” from their 2022 album “Fear & Dagger” that is a recording of a real fan of the band experiencing a Schizophrenic Episode. This led into the first encore song “Pain”, featuring some incredible guitar playing from guitarist, Yannick Lehmann. After finishing “Pain” and individually shouting out and thanking all members of the band and the team, the final song and their latest single, the anthemic “Love Burns”, began. Somehow the crowd still had energy to mosh and crowdsurf along to the very catchy chorus. Once finished, Zelli donned the “Peely-Wally Face Swiss” flag like a cape and bowed off the stage with his fellow band mates, stopping by the barrier to express their gratitude to their fans.
Safe to say that Paleface Swiss will be warmly welcomed back to Scotland sooner rather than later. Their Performance was unmatched in its raw energy, vocal range, audience interaction and just general enjoyability. It is up there as one of the most fun gigs I have attended recently, and I can now officially say that I am now a fan. I cannot wait to not only see Paleface Swiss continue to grow as a band, but also for them to return to Glasgow for another headlining show.
Photos and Review by John Morton.
