Pupil Slicer – Fleshwork

“A lifetime spent naive to the malice of pure greed.”

In the modern metal landscape, there’s been a notable lack of mathcore in circulation in recent years. As pioneering groups such as Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan are subject to near-decade-long album cycles and disbandment, respectively, and overly polished djent and thall worship has become something of the norm, this nuanced, abrasive, and technical form of metalcore has been on the back burner for some time as we wait for new giants to tread its near-vacant grounds. There is a glistening sea of untapped potential; however, one such act that is on the cusp of taking the metal community by storm is Pupil Slicer, a three-piece UK outfit that are on the precipice of their third full-length LP, Fleshwork.

While 2021 debut Mirrors was undoubtedly a solid foundation for Slicer’s sound, I couldn’t help but feel there was something missing; a certain sense of creativity that was yet to be realized. The sophomore effort, Blossom confirmed my suspicions were correct, as the group managed to incorporate elements of shoegaze, progressive metal, and black metal into their pummeling mathcore roots to great success, leading to Blossom ending up as one of the most captivating releases of its calendar year in 2023. Now, just two short years later, Pupil Slicer have stayed the two-year album cycle course with the release of Fleshwork, which sees the trio double down on every extremity; Fleshwork is heavier, more creative, and more melodic than its predecessors, condensed into a tighter and more cohesive thirty-six-minute affair that is subject to countless repeat listens.

“Heather”, one of the album’s two lead singles, makes Pupil Slicer’s renewed focus on abrasive mathcore composition abundantly clear. Vocalist and guitarist Kate Davies steals the spotlight here and in other latter tracks, with their visceral vocal range and angular guitar rhythms, projecting a sound that is unmistakably Pupil Slicer in all their glory. “Gordian” is another impressive outing that displays a laser-pointed dichotomy between the infectiously groovy and absurdly heavy breakdowns Slicer is known for, alongside powerful melodies and dissonant harmonies, exhuming fresh and expansive songwriting elements that were introduced on the sophomore record. “Sacrosanct” is an especially heavy cut that rounds off this trio of tracks that are each shy of three minutes, featuring crushing, almost death metal-inspired guitar riffs with Meshuggah-esque leads laid atop.

“Innocence” is the first track that breaches the three-minute mark by a fair margin, which led me to assume this would be Fleshwork’s full-fledged introduction to Slicer’s proggier side. This ended up being founded, as this track notably has much more in the way of breathing room, with smooth and satisfying bass work from Luke Booth leading listeners into the fray. Following this introductory segment, “Innocence” truly begins to ooze atmosphere, as dissonant mid-range chord progressions give way to Davies’ haunting clean vocals.

And while this is all well and good, no Slicer record is complete without at least a few megalithic breakdowns to round things out. Thankfully, Fleshwork more than delivers on this front, as latter singles such as “Black Scrawl” and the titular “Fleshwork” have some of the most jaw-dropping and explosive concluding breakdowns in their four-year run – or in the entire genre, perhaps. While the concept of the “big ending breakdown” is somewhat of a core trope, it’s undeniable just how proficient Pupil Slicer are at making these feel like truly cinematic climaxes as opposed to basic songwriting ingredients. It almost makes me wish there were more, but alas.

Pressing on into the album’s core, “Nomad” sees Pupil Slicer venture deeper into black metal territory than ever, or at least since Blossom’s “The Song at Creation’s End”, and the results are unsurprisingly just as pleasant. The haunting atmosphere from “Innocence” returns in full force, albeit with a little more abrasion and chaos to shake things up a little, resulting in yet another dichotomous masterclass cut from Fleshwork. “White Noise” and “Cenote” send things off in a similar fashion, the latter of which is nearly 8 minutes in length, making for the longest track by a large margin. However, Slicer do not falter in their focus or cohesion; everything from its bombastic intro to its ambient mid-section should be exactly what you’d expect from such a long Slicer offering, and yet, everything sounds as fresh as ever. The album ends with a beautiful yet eerie clean guitar outro that rounds out the chaos of Fleshwork with a calm, likely one before whatever Kate and the rest of the crew have in store for their next release.

While it may be too soon to know for sure, it truly feels like Fleshwork is the final culmination of everything Pupil Slicer have been working towards thus far. The abrasion of Mirrors, fused with the creativity of Blossom, all while boasting a humble thirty-six-minute length, results in the UK trio’s most impressive offering to date. If there is a mathcore uprising just around the corner, I have no doubt in my mind that Pupil Slicer will be the ones leading the charge.

9/10

Fleshwork releases on November 7th via Prosthetic Records and can be pre-ordered here.