Fleshwork - Pupil Slicer New Album

Who they are and where they come from

Focusing on the trajectory of Pupil Slicer, I saw a band born with calculated chaos: hailing from London, driven by frantic drumming, guitars that strive to leave the comfort zone, and vocals that destabilize.

At the core, we have Katie Davies (guitar and vocals), Josh Andrews (drums), and, in the most recent lineup, Luke Booth (bass and backing vocals). Katie, with a past marked by introspection and intensity, transformed all her influences, from black metal to the dissonance of mathcore, into something of her own, while Andrews and Booth sustain the technical level and rhythmic cohesion that make the band a unified organism.

The third album, Fleshwork, emerges as a turning point, not to abandon its roots, but to blend them and find a new shape. It’s the sound of those who have already drunk from the waters of mathcore, hardcore, and extreme metal, and now choose to dive even deeper.

My immersion in Fleshwork

I put on my headphones, turned down the outside world, and let the album emerge. The opening grabbed me: the band wastes no time with long ambiances or soft preludes, the impact hits right away. In my words, it’s as if Pupil Slicer had held its own reflection in the mirror of chaos and said: now we’ll show everything. Throughout the songs, I felt a pulsing density, one layer after another, riffs that feel like blades, synthesizers whistling in the corners, a dirty groove that drags its feet, and vocals that try to slip between scream and growl.

What works and how

What struck me most was the cohesion of the work. Although each track explores a slightly different direction, from blackened metal to melancholic post, rock, with industrial touches, there’s a unity of intention. I felt that Fleshwork isn’t just a collage of styles but a grand tapestry where each metallic thread was woven to sustain tension. That’s something the sources also highlight: variety of influences, yes, but with a band sense.

Another strength lies in how the band balances brutality with accents of melody or atmosphere: there are moments of pure onslaught but also pauses, mood building. In my opinion, these breathers make the heaviness even heavier, because without contrast, even pain becomes routine.

Some edges still visible

At certain moments, the density sounds so compact that it can overshadow the immediate hooks or riffs. One might feel that perhaps there’s a missing track that sticks more effortlessly.

But if you enter the experience willing to decipher what it demands and not just expecting more of the same, the album delivers rewards. However, if you’re looking for obvious melodies and instant choruses, it may take time before Fleshwork reveals itself.

My conclusion: worth the dive

In summary, as someone who’s lived through nights of moshing, cutting riffs, and sweat on concrete, I believe Pupil Slicer delivered with Fleshwork a work that reaffirms identity and expands horizons. It’s dense, demanding, but also pulsating, vital, and modern. If extreme metal often finds itself trapped in formulas, here we have a band that dares to bend the edges and play with form without losing that punch to the chest.

If I had to choose one sentence to invite someone to listen: “open your ears, turn off the autopilot, and let these guitars pull you down, backward, inward.” I wholeheartedly recommend it to those who live and breathe metal, and even to those willing to come up from the surface.