Pupil Slicer – Blossom Review

Pupil Slicer really shook things up in 2021. While undeniably a slab of Converge-meets-Dillinger core with a nice dose of Botch, the trio’s debut Mirrors was a tour-de-force of grindy intensity, a neat balance between heart and callousness, and a marvel of songwriting. Songs like “Husk,” “Collective Unconscious,” and “Wounds Upon My Skin” still get regular plays in the Hollow household,¹ with mad mastermind Kate Davies’ frantic vocals, insane axework, and boundary-pushing ideas taking center stage. As its name suggests, Mirrors was ultimately an autobiographical work, Davies carving out their own name and image upon the jagged surface of mathcore. With as roaring of a success as Mirrors was, what can we expect from its follow-up?

To their credit, the London trio takes Blossom to a whole new level, reflecting their maturation as a forerunner of the contemporary “sasscore” movement. Abandoning the autobiographical concepts of their debut in favor of an exploratory narrative inspired by literature, video games, cosmic horror, and science fiction, Pupil Slicer offers a sound that is as wide-ranging as the story contained, drawing influence from acts like Nine Inch Nails, Deftones, Deafheaven, and Radiohead, alongside the mathcore stalwarts. You’ll discover Blossom more atmospheric, groovy, and limber – a different breed of punishing compared to the relative uniformity of the mechanical Mirrors. While its reach exceeds its grasp periodically and some trademark intensity is lost in the fray, the fluidity of Blossom reminds listeners why Pupil Slicer is at the top of the mathcore scene.

Most notably different about Blossom is its sparse inclusion of the grind that bled across Mirrors’ table. Don’t get me wrong, songs like “No Temple,” “Terminal Lucidity,” and “Momentary Actuality” will remind listeners of the intensity, skronky dissonance overtaking jerky riffs and unpredictable time changes. However, Pupil Slicer’s true growth is shown in the epic songwriting of more experimental tracks. “The Song At Creation’s End” showcases its atmospheric omnipresence atop blackened blastbeats and Davies’ grungy cleans; “Dim Morning Light” likewise showcases a more cosmic intensity, with siren-like cleans dueling a robotic sliding dissonance that highlights the alien and otherworldly atmosphere, feeling a tad like Exoplanet-era The Contortionist; while “Creating the Devil in Our Own Image” is a nearly perfect blend of all of its assets, attacking its more Deftones-inspired apathy with intense mathy meltdowns and the best groove of the album. Similarly, Pupil Slicer injects “Departure in Solitude” and “No Temple” with a groove that’s hard to shake, while the intro “Glaring Dark of Night” and intermission “Language of the Stars” both establish the mood of Blossom flawlessly. The layers of the album have also made it a more balanced affair, with bassist Luke Fabian showcasing his formidable skills consistently throughout, while drummer Josh Andrews’ blastbeats and shifting sands show much growth – making it more than just the Kate Davies show.

Two issues plague Blossom: the experimentation falters here and there while the mathcore meltdowns feel remarkably tamer than last time. While “The Song at Creation’s End” is a clear winner, closer “Blossom” find Pupils Slicer nearly forgoing all complexity and intensity in favor of a punk-meets-metalcore-meets-nu-metal anthem that feels more like Marilyn Manson than Converge, Davies’ vocals settling on a milquetoast drawl that nearly derails the fluidity of the album. “Departure in Solitude,” in spite of its formidable groove, incorporates these passages without much direction, randomly exploding into a beatdown, while the atmospheric “gotcha” of “Terminal Lucidity” feels like whiplash. While “No Temple” is the best example of Pupil Slicer’s cutthroat trademark, other mathcore elements can feel remarkably limp: “Momentary Actuality” is only saved by the catchiness of Davies cleans, while “Terminal Lucidity” lacks the memorability save for its misdirecting intro.

To their credit, Pupil Slicer did a great job avoiding the pitfalls of mimicking their debut – in favor of a wide-reaching and ridiculously ambitious album that draws from the wells of many. For the most part, they kill it, with tracks like “No Temple,” “Creating the Devil in Our Own Image,” and “The Song At Creation’s End” contending for the act’s best songs so far. However, Blossom is an undeniably crowded room, with too much space taken up by nu-metal or punk resulting in defanged mathcore whimpers that drag slightly, particularly in the back half. That being said, Blossom is still a gigantic step in the right direction, with unique ambition and manic performances cementing Pupil Slicer as an elite act in contemporary mathcore.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Prosthetic Records
Websites: facebook.com/pupilslicer | pupilslicer.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: June 2nd, 2023