Sundays… for some they are meant to rest and for others it is just another great day for attending a concert. People are gathering in Trix, Antwerp once again for a sold-out concert everyone has been looking forward to. Welcome to the Cursed tour!
Welcome back Desolated!
Trix was packed already, with fans eagerly waiting to see Desolated again after all these years.
The band played their last Belgian show in Ghent in 2017, just before going on a little hiatus.
They returned 2 years later as kings of a new realm of misery but sadly they didn’t make the trip to Belgium, until now!
From the first notes of ‘Numb’, the pit opened up. No surprise, since Desolated has built a reputation for themselves over the years for bringing relentless mosh-friendly heavy hardcore/beatdown music!
They came out swinging, and midway through ‘The Beginning’, their sheer intensity was enough to blow the fuses – undeniable proof of just how fierce their start was. Luckily the issue was resolved quickly so the band could continue where they left off.
As expected from a band like Desolated , there were plenty of opportunities for side-to-side action and moshing, especially during the new song ‘Bite Down’ which has not been released yet when they played it.
The mosh pit only got crazier for old classics like ‘The End’, ‘Therapy’, and ‘Suffering’.
Mosh pits got even more intense when they unleashed ‘A New Realm of Misery‘, a relentless track packed with multiple breakdown, hitting harder by the second.
The ultimate moment came with fan-favorite ‘Death By My Side’, where vocalist Tony Evans, who recently stepped in for Paul Williams – who left the band last year – took things to the next level by stepping off stage and letting the fans scream the lyrics with him “A life of pain and misery, trapped with fear there’s no easy way out. There’s no easy way out alive, I’ve walked this road with death by my side.”
Setlist: Numb – The Beginning – Bite Down – VICTIM – The End – Therapy – Suffering – A New Realm of Misery – Death by My Side
Good old brutality with The Acacia Strain
The Acacia Strain does not need introduction. Within the heavy music industry the band has been a force to be reckoned with for more than 20 years now!
They got off to a strong start with the songs ‘FLOURISHING‘ and ‘Dr.Doom‘ filled with heavy riffs, pig squeals and breakdowns.
Vincent Bennett grabbed his mic before announcing the next song ‘Whoa! Shut It Down‘ saying “There is only one rule, there are no rules as long as you have fun.”
‘FRESH BONES‘ was a fast one for the OG fans being a full-on assault on the ears.
Tony Evans joined his new friends in The Acacia Strain on the song ‘Beast‘.
During the song ‘Feed a Pigeon Breed a Rat‘ Vincent did something extraordinary I haven’t seen before; he grabbed his mic and put it on this throat for creating a guttered sound when singing from the top of his lungs “It feels like hell!”
Concluding their set with two other classics in ‘The Hills Have Eyes‘ and ‘Carbomb‘. Fast enough to get the circle pit moving, heavy enough for some more 2-stepping and moshing. Vincent was clearly having fun too when he took a water bottle squashing it with his mic, ending up spraying on the front row people.
Setlist: FLOURISHING – Dr. Doom – Whoa! Shut It Down – Chhinnamasta – CHAIN – FRESH BONES – Beast – Bitter Pill – Feed a Pigeon Breed a Rat – Crossgates – The Hills Have Eyes – Carbomb
The cursed ones hailing all the way from the mountains of the Swiss Alps
Paleface Swiss returns to Belgium for their very first-ever headline tour in support of the new album Cursed. In honor to the album the concert started with the eerie intro song ‘un pobre niño murió‘ which literally translates into ‘a poor child died’ and is in fact a reinterpretation of a rather morbid Canary Islands lullaby.
With the tape fading out the band came on stage and relentlessly opened with the first release of the new album called ‘Hatred‘. Their set was made up on a good mix of new and older songs as demonstrated with the next song being ‘Suppressing times‘.
The new album Cursed introduced a renewed Paleface Swiss sound. First evidence of this was the song ‘My Blood On Your Hands‘ with the summum being the allagadur scream where vocalist Zelli (Marc Zellweger) sounded more like Killer Croc than a human being.
For the song ‘Nail To The Tooth‘ , Zelli got help of the fans to sing with him
“Fuck my life up, Fuck my soul. Fuck my whole life up’.
‘The Gallow‘ on the other hand was the perfect opportunity for a wall of death. By the way, did you see the gallow swing on stage?
Before playing the next song ‘Enough?‘ , Zelli explained that this song was written to address the haters. To make a statement drummer Cassi (Cassiano Toma) came from behind his drum and kissed Zelli, after which they unapologetically stated “Everyone who is not okay with this should leave. if you can’t live with it you have no place here!”. The song itself is great, showcasing the renewed sound at first until the point Zelli asks guitarist Yannick Lehmann to bring back the old school shit, quoting “Come on, let’s give them what they want!” after which the song erupted into the full-on aggressive Paleface Swiss sound we have known all along.
After a brief, haunting intermezzo the room was lit for the song ‘Rivers Of Sorrow‘ which managed to momentarily silence the chaos.
Afterwards Zelli took plenty of time to thank everyone who made this tour possible!
Time to bring back the heavy signature Paleface Swiss music with ‘Please End Me‘.
Before leaving the stage on the heavy tunes of ‘Please End Me‘ Zelli announced to stay put, hinting we were gonna be treated with some extra songs. And indeed they did!
The unofficial encore started with the tape version of ‘666‘, the intro song from the previous album Fear and Dagger before they reappeared on stage with ‘Pain‘.
After a varied set they concluded with their newest release ‘Love Burns‘.
Setlist: Un Pobre Niño Murió (tape) – Hatred – Suppressing Times – My Blood On Your Hands – Youth Decay – …And With Hope You’ll Be Damned – Nail to the Tooth – The Gallow – Don’t You Ever Stop – Enough? – River of Sorrows – Please End Me – 666 (tape) – Pain – Love Burns
Paleface Swiss went from opener to headliner in one year. They didn’t just show up, they dominated! I am curious to see what the future holds for the Swiss cheese heavy hitters.
