Switzerland's finest up-and-coming deathcore/ slam superstars, Paleface Swiss blew the roof off of a rowdy sophomore Brisbane appearance on Wednesday.
It's undeniable that slam and deathcore have become recent staples across the heavy and extreme metal scene, and one name in particular has nearly become synonymous with the genre – Paleface Swiss.
Last gracing Australian soil in 2024, in tow of Australia's own metalcore superstars In Hearts Wake, Paleface Swiss have built a strong and dedicated fanbase of enthusiastic Aussies, evident in an incredibly prompt selling out of near-all stops across their short-but-sweet visit (aside from Newcastle, as shared by frontman Marc 'Zelli' Zellweger later in the evening with a tongue-in-cheek "f... those guys").
For this debut headline run ending this evening in the River City (10 September), the Swiss gents brought Germany's notorious Nasty, further showcasing the stellar quality of European heavy artists in the 21st century.
To the uninitiated - ie. myself - it's revealed throughout one of the many candid, wholesome and genuine storytelling moments during the downtime reprieve between songs of the main set that Nasty were not only a huge influence in the formation of Paleface Swiss, but also the first band to book tonight's headliner.
The historic and iconic The Princess Theatre has quickly returned to stride since its 2021 revamp-reopening, and has promptly become a fan-favourite stomping ground for the Brisbane heavy music scene.
If their last visit to our sunburnt country is to act as any sort of precursor to this evening's show, Brisbane punters will be matching guttural-for-guttural as Paleface Swiss unleash hell and turn the floor into a storm of spin-kicks, two-steps, and walls of death; and boy howdy, did the evening deliver.
Setting the stage and the overall tone of the evening were Brisbane locals Virtues. This four piece took to the stage with a raw enthusiasm expectant of a local opener sharing the stage with some of the heavyweights of the scene.
Virtues - image © Clea-marie Thorne
With an absolutely disgusting (said affectionately) snare delivering an unrelenting combination of snare-bombs and blastbeats, driving through the filling room, the shrieks of over-ear, earmuff-adorning frontman Wade Felsch set the tone for the evening to come – and the crowd was already champing at the bit.
To be completely candid, this reviewer entered the evening with minimal knowledge, understanding, or expectation of the German four-piece hardcore/ deathcore act beyond learning of their nasty reputation of inciting absolute chaos.
To be real, that was enough to grab my attention and I left the rest to be shown to me in the live environment and to cut to the chase, left a fan. Nasty blended a much more straight-up hardcore vibe to the evening's bill than I was expecting, however in retrospect it was fantastic in juxtaposition to the death-focused bill.
For a band that has received considerable shade online for being aggressive, which their music undeniably is, there were probably about a dozen moments of incredibly beautiful, uplifting, and unifying calls for enthusiastic participation and high-energy in a controlled environment.
Shouting out those grinding and doing their best, acknowledging everyone's differences but asking that we introspectively assess our similarities instead, and even halting the final of their set some three seconds in to check on a punter who had ended up in a compromising situation in the pit (before promptly returning to their finale after receiving a delighted thumbs up from the crowd) are not the acts I would be walking away from this set remembering most clearly; however, here we are.
Nasty - image © Clea-marie Thorne
These guys are hardcore through and through – moments of stillness are not why you're in a Nasty pit, and they have all-but-perfectly written the backing track to the mayhem they know this scene is built on.
A review of this vibrant set would be incomplete without reference to the switch-up within the chorus of 'Be Careful', where some impressive cleaner vocals left the same vessel responsible for the hyper-aggressive sounds far more familiar throughout the moments before and after.
From the second the naked stage faded to black, fans rose in an uproar of anticipation for this evening's main course – they were famished and already promising to leave no crumbs left at the table.
The Swiss quartet (if only there was a fourth four-piece band on the bill for the evening) emerged with vigour and vibrance starkly contrasting the low stage lighting, highlighted with a bathing of gold and sporadic strobes of red as the room filled with their unique and instantly-recognisable flavour of carnage.
Paleface Swiss - image © Clea-marie Thorne
From intense and flavoursome beats to wailing, sweeping, twangy and chunky guitars, the instrumentation of Paleface is near-record perfect for every beat and bar of the evening.
With no discredit to the instrumentation of the band, it is impossible to deny the charisma that Zelli exudes, drenched in thematic and diverse stage production – particularly the first several songs, where very intentional lighting decisions were made to incredible effect.
Zelli – as a vocalist – is phenomenal; that is undeniable and common knowledge at this point in time. What surprised me the most however, was the star power both the frontman and his dearest friends demonstrated throughout the course of a (what felt like, in the best way possible) a monster set.
As a seasoned punter of extreme metal genres of a variety of sub-flavours, there can often be a somewhat lack of 'rockstar bullsh.t' that some mainstream counterparts more appropriately encapsulate. I've always considered watching a live band to be as important as listening to them (or I could just play their record to hear note-for-note perfection).
Paleface Swiss - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Paleface Swiss blew me away and have truly set a new baseline for what a band of this genre can and should achieve in their live delivery. Maybe it was the 'f... yeah-ity' of it being the final show on the tour, but whatever it was, it was the secret sauce to a set that will long live rent-free in my mind.
All of the standard crowd-engagement items were here: torchlights, waiving hands, crowd vocal participation, and even 'stomp-clap' human beat-generation.
Beyond these pseudo-cliche crowd engagement moments, all members of the band (bar bassist Tommy Lee) engaged with the crowd verbally either through cheeky banter, more meaningful and uplifting reflections, and even sharing their experiences surrounding suicidal thoughts and unimaginable heartache in recognition of World Suicide Prevention Day (10 September).
The juxtaposition of a friendly kiss between bandmates, telling those who have a problem with love in all varieties to consider leaving their show, to the stuttered and shy reflection of heavy-hitting experiences creates such a raw and real depiction of human beings that momentarily, you could forget these guys are out here playing 'devil's music'.
This band – and in turn, the entire touring package – really are just some mates out making a name for themselves on their own terms, and doing a damn-fine job at it.
Paleface Swiss - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Hell, Nasty joined Paleface onstage alongside members of their production team and called for some shoes from the crowd so they could do their one and only shoey performance of the tour.
As someone who thinks this culturally accepted Australian dick-headedness is overplayed by fans, this one seemed to be an act of gratitude from the musicians (even if it may have been pandering to the crowd – who could actually enjoy gulping room-temperature beer out of a stranger's sweaty combat boot onstage).
With 20-odd songs ruthlessly executed with surgical precision and barbaric ruthlessness, defining a singular standout moment (or even several minutes of) is all but impossible. Alas, as I'm sure many sweaty, battered, and exhausted fans would agree, witnessing 'Please End Me' from 2025 full-length album 'Cursed' was something else.
For those looking for a quintessential summary of these fantastic, rising stars, this is inexcusable to be missed.
Paleface Swiss will continue to dominate and in their own words are already eyeballing "that big stage" while broadly gesturing in the direction of The Riverstage. I reckon we'll see you there in the next few years, fellas, and I for one, cannot wait.
More photos from the concert.
