10 September 2025 – The Princess Theatre, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Marty Schmidt
On the 12 month anniversary of their first ever tour of Australia, Switzerland’s newly crowned deathcore kings Paleface Swiss returned back down under for another tour. Off the back of the bands new record, CURSED, the tour was slated to be one of the most anticipated of the year. And bolstered with support from Nasty, this was a show not to be missed.
Out first were Brissy locals, Virtues. I always talk about how I love discovering new bands for the first time. But sometimes it feels rare to discover a new band in my very own backyard. These guys absolutely killed with the 25 minutes they had. I didn’t know any of the song titles, but I wish I did. They were heavy, fast, and most importantly, fun. Lead vocalist Wade Felsch was dropping f and c bombs all night, but it was the perfect level of intensity to get the crowd riled for the oncoming beat down that was about to pummel The Princess Theatre.
Virtues – The Princess – photos by Marty Schmidt
On the final night of their debut Australian tour, German beat down hardcore act Nasty were up next. And holy shit these guys slammed. I interviewed lead vocalist Matthias Tarnath recently for this tour, and I mentioned to him at the time that Nasty were one of the many bands I found over COVID. So being able to experience them live for the first time, with all the legacy behind them, was so cool to see. The crowd was super into it too.
There was so much pitting and crowd surfing, that I think it was some of the most intense scenes I’ve ever seen in this building. Some of the tracks on show included ‘At War With Love’, ‘Ultimate’, ‘666AM’, and set closer, ‘Total Domination’. I hope the lads don’t wait another 20 years to tour. The merch was selling like crazy after their set, and they turned a lot of people onto the band after this show.
Nasty – The Princess – photos by Marty Schmidt
By the time 9:20pm rolled around, you would have assumed after back to back brutal sets from Virtues and Nasty would have tired the crowd out. But the show was only just getting started. Out of the black, the lights immediately came up, as Paleface Swiss stood on stage and immediately cooked straight into ‘Hatred’. No build, No fanfare. Just violence. The 18 song set was heavy on songs from the band’s incredible 2025 record, CURSED, but some songs from Fear & Dagger were also peppered through the set.
After blitzing through ‘Suppressing Times’, and ‘My Blood on Your Hands’, lead vocalist Zelli spoke on how massive this being the debut headline tour for this band in Australia, and how last time they were in town, it was with In Hearts Wake, who drew a big ovation. Zelli acknowledged all the familiar faces in the crowd, and mentioned last tour, that Brisbane was their favorite show of that tour. This tour so far has been Melbourne (queue the boos), and Zelli said while it is still early in the show, that gives Brisbane a chance to be better than Melbourne, and we are now getting back into the heavy, with ‘Youth Decay’.
Paleface Swiss – The Princess – photos by Marty Schmidt
After ‘…and with hope you’ll be damned’, and ‘Nail in the Tooth’, Virtues’ and Nasty joined Paleface on stage to do a group end of tour shoey, with some many shoes from the crowd. It was kinda gross. Zelli then mentioned a new song they dropped at the start of the summer, as we got ‘I Am a Cursed One’. Zelli then mentioned the legacy of Nasty, and how both important the band is in the Paleface lore, as well as being musical inspirations, and now friends. And now the tables have turned, in that while Nasty gave Paleface their first ever tour, Paleface could repay the favour by bringing them on Nasty’s first tour of Australia, which is a beautiful full circle moment.
Zelli then asked for massive amounts of room movement, as we got ‘The Gallows’. They then speed ran some insane stuff, with ‘Enough?’, before a crazy awesome guitar solo from lead guitarist Yannick Lahmann. This solo then led beautifully into ‘Don’t You Ever Stop’, and ‘Best Before: Death’. The crowd then crawled on top of itself for the beautiful track, ‘River of Sorrows’, which is my favorite from Cursed, as the deathcore ballad had tears flowing.
Paleface Swiss – The Princess – photos by Marty Schmidt
The stage lights then dipped, as Zelli handed the microphone to drummer, Cassi Toma, as Toma did a beautiful speech for Suicide Prevention Awareness Day, which happened to be the day of the show. While I didn’t write everything he said, he left the speech with a beautiful remark, saying “Grief is love with nowhere to go”, which drew a monstrous round of applause from the crowd. The final four songs were played, with ‘Please End Me’, ‘666’, ‘Pain’, and ‘Love Burns’, before Paleface left and came back for show closer, ‘Deathtouch’.
The eighteen songs played tonight could not have been more perfect. CURSED is the bands best work, and showcasing the bands 2025 sound across most of the songs played, showed how they have developed into such a well rounded live act, performing at a level that some bands with double their tenure could only dream of.
