Pupil Slicer deliver dark, intense mathcore on debut LP ‘Mirrors’ (pre-order on swirl vinyl!)
UK trio Pupil Slicer announced their signing to Prosthetic Records last year with the release of their single “L’appel du Vide” (featuring a guest appearance by The Callous Daoboys vocalist Carson Pace), and now they’ve released their debut full-length, Mirrors, with that song and 11 others (and more guest vocals from members of Sufferer and Grey Brain, with production by Pedram Valiani of Frontierer/Sectioned).
Mirrors follows an increasingly good run of earlier releases (a self-titled EP and splits with Death Goals and Sense Offender), and it takes the band’s sound in all kinds of new directions and is easily their best and most complete statement yet. It offers up metalcore and mathcore at its harshest, interspersed with ambient/noise interludes and flirtations with black & death metal and other heavy subgenres, and it covers a lot of ground within that realm. It’s chaotic and discordant at times, bone-crushingly heavy at others, and atmospheric at others, and it remains dark and intense throughout. The lyrics take on personal experiences with abuse and depression as well as societal injustice and oppression, and — as you may expect from a band called “Pupil Slicer” — the album is full of vivid images of pain and violence (and spiders and cockroaches), which perfectly match the intensity of the music. There’s been a lot of good metalcore lately, but Mirrors stands out from the pack and feels thrillingly unique.
Mirrors is out now via Prosthetic. Stream it below and pre-order the awesome-looking red/black swirl vinyl from the BV store.