PALEFACE SWISS

The perfect antidote to the ongoing deluge of lightweight pop-metalcore, PALEFACE SWISS are here to smash everybody's faces in. Active since 2017, the Swiss quartet have been both prolific and strategically smart, releasing two previous studio albums and a dizzying host of EPs and collaborative singles: all of which have contributed to the band's reputation as one of the most savage and uncompromising modern metal bands to emerge in years. PALEFACE SWISS are fucking heavy and "Cursed" is an insanely exciting half-hour of violence.

Last time out, on 2022's cult hit "Fear & Dagger", PALEFACE SWISS were a whirlwind of crushing riffs and, notably, preposterous vocal extremism from frontman Marc "Zelli" Zellweger: a remarkable force of nature who should soon be rivalling LORNA SHORE's Will Ramos as one deathcore's most extraordinary talents. The combination of Zelli's demented vocals and the sheer, balls-out fury of his bandmates' output is lethal beyond words.

Sonically meatier than its predecessor, "Cursed" is an exercise in extreme focus, as PALEFACE SWISS fulfil their past potential and become something bigger and more dangerous, armed with songs that defy the usual genre descriptions. Purveyors of a uniquely rageful deathcore/metalcore hybrid, with an obvious and highly astute debt to SLIPKNOT, and the cutting -edge mindset of bands like KNOCKED LOOSE and FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY, they have struck upon a fearsome formula here. As first demonstrated on 2023's quadrilogy of one-off singles (check out "Please End Me" for a taster!),PALEFACE SWISS are on blistering form and twitching in the blocks as they anticipate a not entirely unrealistic bid for world domination. Most importantly, "Cursed" will make metalheads want to smash stuff. All the stuff.

This shit rips. "Hatred" is a monstrous and gruesome collage of riffs, time changes and grotesque gargling from Zelli. Somewhere between highly evolved deathcore and SLIPKNOT's chaotic battery, PALEFACE SWISS are losing their fucking minds. "…and with hope you'll be damned" is edgy and vitriolic, with shades of nu-metal (KORN, in particular) and dirty hardcore colliding in an orgy of headbanging and kung fu kicks. Not for the last time, Zelli demonstrates his outrageous vocal abilities, scream-rapping like Hell's own TWISTA tribute act, and unleashing so many abhorrent growls and roars that he occasionally sounds like he is trying to swallow his own head. On "Don't you ever stop", guitarist Yannick Lehmann's riffs are brutish, ugly and subtly inventive, as Zelli vomits his way through another pop-eyed diatribe that ends almost as soon as it begins. In wild contrast, "Enough" is a dissonant, hip-hop curio with sinister undertones, and a punishing, riff-driven coda. It is also the perfect precursor to the cracked-groove hullabaloo of "Youth Decay", which is obnoxiously heavy and laced with primitive, clean vocal hooks and classic metal thuggery. Kicking off with an acapella meltdown from Zelli, "My Blood On Your Hands" is 100 seconds of bullying madness, with some of the nastiest riffs imaginable and, gloriously, the sound of Zelli doing his now legendary alligator impression. Putting more meat on their titanium bones, "Love Burns" is PALEFACE SWISS's groove metal anthem: a lurching, deathcore-adjacent squall with majestic, melodic detours and soaring, soulful clean vocals. Finally, "River Of Sorrows" fulfils the obligatory grunge-influenced album closer remit, but while certain other deathcore and metalcore bands have blithely jumped the shark doing the same thing, PALEFACE SWISS get the brooding, desperate tone just right, and the slow build towards a righteous emotional crescendo is wondrous/terrifying to behold.

It is worth noting again that this band are seriously fucking heavy, but nimble and adventurous too. "Cursed" is short, tumultuous and bloated with great ideas and smart surprises. The vocals are mind-blowing. The riffs will hurt you. This band are going to destroy everything in 2025 and there is nothing anyone can do to stop them.