Pupil Slicer announced themselves in style with a sea of aggression, when their debut album Mirrors landed in 2021, and they immediately found themselves at home in the UKs thriving post-pandemic underground Metal scene, which saw them hitting the road the following year on a salivating and high-profile tour with Rolo Tomassi and Heriot. Mirrors was an accomplished debut performance of relentless raw energy and anger, with Pupil Slicer hinting at their full potential on the album’s final song ‘Collective Unconscious’, which was deeper and slower in pace, showing a maturity in their song-writing that extended beyond the abrasive math/deathcore on the rest of the record.
And on that note, it is fair to say, that not only does their follow-up Blossom (Prosthetic Records) live up to the potential offered on ‘Collective Unconscious’, but it far exceeds all expectations and is quite honestly the work of a band who have now created their own sound, soaked in a sophistication well beyond their years. Blossom shows a clear progression in just about every aspect, from the production to the songwriting, and most importantly the delivery.
The record opens with a buzz of feedback and a solemn piano providing a calming intro on ‘Glaring Dark Of Night’, which predictably builds to a harsh and abrasive soundscape, giving birth to ‘Momentary Actuality’ and the instantaneous screaming of singer/guitarist Kate Davies. However, the song soon shows the swerve in Pupil Slicer’s sound, as her almost angelic clean vocals come in over the chorus with a particularly strong and memorable hook. The intricate clanking rhythms and hectic changes in pace from their debut are here, but it all sounds somewhat different.
‘Departure In Solitude’ continues with a furious aggressive pace, but with Kate this time taking the lead with her clean singing, before the track breaks into a dubcore rhythm and she starts to spit with venom once again. As the song progresses there is a distinct blackened influence to the riff, while some impressively flashy guitar leads drop in and out. ‘Creating the Devil in Our Image’ provides a moment of respite as a beautifully melodic guitar lead provides a few bars of calm, before the storm erupts once again and the chaos ensues. There is more intense shredding and a wonderful tone on a neat little Bass solo in the drop.
Blossom continues to deliver as its journey progresses, providing all manner of mind-bending heavy rhythms on songs including ‘No Temple’ which is pure twisted Death-Core and relentless in its ferocity, and on ‘Terminal Lucidity’ which explodes into an aggressive cacophony. But it’s when the changes in style occur that you realise just what a special and complete album this is. ‘Language of the Stars’ is deeply mesmerising and sci-fi-esq, where robotic spoken words and a hypnotic piano, build over a patter of electronic percussion, before melting into the melodic guitar lead of ‘Dim Mornings Light’. A song that has a bit of an eighties flavour and is in fine contrast to their heavier material, as it morphs into a blackgaze style, with Kate’s vocals contorting between clean singing and screaming. The closing title track and first single of this new Pupil Slicer era provides a post-grunge style, in what will unquestionably become a new crowd-pleasing live anthem, before finishing with an intense and heavy climax.
And in amongst the beautiful discord sits ‘The Song at Creations End’, which is truly mind-blowing from start to finish. It begins with a deep and intoxicating intro, which is mellow and shoegaze-y, slowly building as Kate drops a blend of blackened screams and clean singing as the music distorts beneath, twisting and turning from aggression to calm, to create an alluring juxtaposition. This is the standout song of Pupil Slicer’s career so far, progressing into a subterranean cacophony, and finishing with a vocal performance of heart-wrenching emotion.
Buy the album here:
https://pupilslicer.bandcamp.com/album/blossom
9 / 10
ABSTRAKT_SOUL_