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Since PALEFACE SWISS dropped their second full-length Fear And Dagger back in 2022, their name has been one to slowly but surely come up across the scene thanks to a strong social media presence and electrifying live shows supporting big names including KUBLAI KHAN TX or COUTERPARTS, as well as many festival lineups. This consistency alongside a couple of singles dropped in 2023 meant their third album Cursed was greatly anticipated and at just under half an hour, the Swiss four piece showcase a huge evolution to prove they’re not a one trick pony.
Interestingly, all four singles from 2023, including Please End Me and Best Before: Death don’t appear on Cursed, however teaser single Hatred kicks things off with the bands distinctive, straight up deathcore sound following eerie lullaby intro un pobre nino murio. Whilst other tracks on the album including Don’t You ever Stop and My Blood On Your Hands feel more akin to what we’d expect from the quartet, with beat downs galore, it’s the rest of the album that captures a real shift in influence. There’s more melody, slow tracks, clean vocals and rapping throughout, with vocalist Zelli ticking all boxes in his varied skillset.
Track Enough? starts off as a hip-hop style track tackling themes around toxicity in the scene and online trolls, before Zelli calls out to “bring back the old school shit” and the band switch abruptly back to a recreation of old track Judgement Day. There is a slightly irony to this call out, as whilst the bands shift is admirable, well produced and musically tight, the mix up does make it feel slightly as though PALEFACE SWISS have lost that bite that drew us to them in the first place.
Whether it was influenced specifically by the legends or not, the combination of all of the above – the switch up of speed rather than bold chunk, the more technical drumming from Cassio Toma, and the trinity of cleans, growls and rapping – does create a sound incredibly similar to old SLIPKNOT, especially single Love Burns, which isn’t a bad thing but was definitely not what was expected following PALEFACE SWISS’ history.
The album wraps up with the saddest and slowest we’ve ever heard from them, River of Sorrows, concluding the cacophony of range this PALEFACE SWISS has and showing they can be emotive in ways other than aggression and considering the shortness of the album, when it ends, you’ll feel like you need to go back and listen again. If however, you were awaiting this record to accompany your New Years resolutions in the gym for some gains, you may need to find your breakdown chunk elsewhere.
Rating: 7/10
Cursed is out now via self-release.
For more information on PALEFACE SWISS like their official page on Facebook.
The post ALBUM REVIEW: Cursed – Paleface Swiss appeared first on Distorted Sound Magazine.
