By Jonny Bakes
For me, one of the best things about being part of the Über Rock crew is the opportunity to get my hands on some of the seriously exciting up and coming bands from all areas of the rock/metal spectrum. Sometimes a band may be quickly forgotten, but others completely jump out and stick with me for a while. Something tells me that the debut album from Pupil Slicer could fall firmly into the latter camp though, and let me tell you why…
First, let’s find out some more about Pupil Slicer. Hailing from London, these guys have been sharpening the edges of their mathcore/grindcore sound for the past few years before hitting the studio to lay down this collection of frenetic energy that is ‘Mirrors’. After dropping the single ‘L’Appel du Vide’ (‘The Call Of The Void) at the back end of 2020, it was only a matter of time before they had to follow up with a full-length album to satisfy the hunger that they had created!
And the result, of course, is ‘Mirrors’ which is an absolute rollercoaster of pretty extreme noise. There’s a heady mix of blast beats and serious shredding with the technicality of mathcore which also brings the jarring high pitched guitar squeals (which are very reminiscent of Gojira). This gives it a completely different edge to it that makes it pretty special, but this isn’t the only thing that made it stand out for me. There’s also an incredible amount of raw aggressive energy in Kate’s vocals that absolutely assaults your ears in all the right ways. It comes across as a cathartic release of her personal experiences, frustrations and anger that has been carefully collected and sharpened into the perfect audio assault. You won’t be forgetting this in a hurry that’s for sure!
The whole album is knitted together in such a way that, although the music itself is a carefully crafted chaos, the album as a whole flows in a really cohesive way. This does make it a little bit difficult to pick out the standout tracks though because they’re all equally impressive but regardless I shall give it a good go.
Let’s take ‘Mirrors Are More Fun Than Television’ which is a seven-minute-long track of epic proportions. It starts out with a slow, heavy riff with some gut-blasting drums that swiftly descends into furious chaos as soon as Kate’s vocals kick in. The vocals in this are belted out with such ferocity and anger that they sometimes transition into frustrated screams that resonate through to your very core. Things do slow down for a while though, which is probably more likely for the listener to catch a breather than it is for the band as it seems like they have enough energy to keep doing this all day! It’s a pretty short-lived breather though as it’s not long before the guitars kick back in with more of a melodic death feel to them that sees out the end of the track in style.
Personally, I can’t wait for things to ease up so that Pupil Slicer can get out on the road because I think their shows will be absolute beautiful carnage. Everything about this album is so full of energy and aggression that I feel will whip a crowd up into an absolute frenzy and I want to be there right in the middle! ‘Mirrors’ is an album that reflects all of those pent up feelings and lays them bare for all to see with a real heartfelt honesty that lies subtly within the sheer brutality of the music. This will definitely appeal to fans of the likes of Dillinger Escape Plan, Gojira and those who love a bit of technicality to polish the brutality in their music. It’s certainly done enough to get me all excited, so there’s every chance that it’ll do the same for you!
- ‘Mirrors’ is released on 12 March. You can get your copy HERE.
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