Paleface Swiss Hurtle into 2026 with Devastating Set at Manchester Academy [Photos]

Barely into the first weeks of the New Year, and already the calendar is filling up with some quality metal tours. Barely days either side of these shows, Russian/English deathcore stars Slaughter To Prevail are steamrolling across the UK on their own UK headline tour, but the focus tonight is on the return to the UK of the rising stars of European metalcore, Paleface Swiss, who are back in the UK for the biggest headline shows of their career.

Accompanying the band on these six shows are US metallic hardcore crew Stick To Your Guns and the much-hyped Leeds alt-metal troop A Static Dress. The openers Stick To Your Guns deliver everything you could want from a hardcore set. Anthemic sing-alongs and soaring melodies litter their set as the first bodies of the night are encouraged over the barrier as the band powers the vicious tracks like “Spineless.” Leeds alt-metal/post-hardcore band Static Dress are one of those bands that spent a good part of the last couple of years building a healthy reputation for themselves and, judging by the reaction to their set, that time has been put to good use.

Paleface Swiss are a band who, over the past few years, have morphed into something which has seen their reputation skyrocket. A relatively unknown metalcore band for a number of years, the band suddenly came onto the radar of the metal scene as a shift in their sound saw their popularity explode. Packed out headline shows last year were clearly just a sign of things to come as the band returned to the UK for their biggest shows and production to date.

Blending nu-metal, hardcore and metalcore into one melting pot of heaviness, Paleface Swiss know how to write songs that detonate in moshpits. Opening with “I Am A Cursed One,” the band do not let their foot off the gas through “Hatred” and “With Hope.” This unrelenting metal assault continues through “Withering Flower” with frontman Marc “Zelli” Zellweger orchestrating the chaotic moshpit from the stage. Even efforts to calm things down with a wall of hugs failed to dampen the energy in the pit, but to a soundtrack which included ferocious anthems like ”The Rats” and ”Instrument of War,” the latter featuring collaborators and openers Stick To Your Guns, it felt like the frontman was fighting a battle he wasn’t really fussed about winning.

Paleface Swiss clearly have a close connection with the UK and, later this Summer, the band will be back on UK shores to tear it up at this year’s Download Festival. It feels like these shows are just the start of an exciting new chapter for the band and, if they deliver at Castle Donington in June, who knows what the future holds for this exciting Swiss band?

Our photographer, Maryleen Photography, brought back this photo gallery from the show, which you can check out along with the Paleface Swiss setlist.

Paleface Swiss Setlist:

1. I Am A Cursed One
2. Hatred
3. With Hope
4. Nail To The Tooth
5. Withering Flower
6. Best Before: Death
7. The Orphan
8. Everything Is Fine
9. The Rats
10. Enough?
11. The Gallow
12. My Blood On Your Hands
13. Let Me Sleep
14. River of Sorrows
15. Instrument of War
16. Love Burns
17. Please End Me