PUPIL SLICER
Blossom
Prosthetic Records
They say that in space, no one can hear you scream. That may be true, and the void may be fathomless and without limit, but that doesn't mean you should not try to be heard. PUPIL SLICER have been at it since 2007 but really blew the air locks off with their debut full length, Mirrors, in 2021. And now, in the year of no hope, 2023, Blossom is here to do exactly that. Sit back and breathe it in.
Any band so named that you shudder every time you say the moniker is to be immediately taken seriously. PUPIL SLICER traffic in a particularly bruising sort of Mathcore that flirts with jazz and electronica, indie, and trap, and other things I am forgetting, while simultaneously bashing your skull in and gently holding your hand at the same time.
There are no insignificant parts in Blossom. Everything you hear on the first listen is just as important as everything you will uncover on subsequent listens, of which there will be many. Billed officially as a space opera, the nuance and sense of balance is truly something to behold. Blossom is an experience, and experiences - every time I listen to it I am discovering new layers of both beauty and aural punishment. Kate Davies is an absolute force of nature, the rest of the band swirling around their powerful vocal ability, and matching it absolutely. Clearly a full band effort, PUPIL SLICER have very potentially made not only the album of their career, but also one of the very best albums of the year.
Blossom begins benign enough, with ethereal intro "Glaring Dark of Night" setting the mood to be blown to smithereens by a cold, jarring ending swirling like the nexus of a black hole into "Momentary Actuality" and that's just the beginning... The rest of the album is a study in what some may call modern Metal or whatever the newest phrase is being used to shill records these days - there is not really a RIYL appropriate for PUPIL SLICER - their sound is not one to be tidily pigeon-holed. Nothing against a good RIYL sticker, mind you.
In spite of the overt difficulty presented in Blossom, the album as a whole is representative of some of the very best metal that 2023 hath yet wrought. In a word, ebullient.
4.5 Out Of 5.0
