Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:35:38 — 218.9MB)
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What’s up wriggling celestial void worms! This week Ryan and I carve our way into the grinding and technical math-slathered skronk salvo Mirrors, the debut LP unleashed by the UK outfit Pupil Slicer. As is typical, I make a reference or two to Shelob and Sean Astin while Ryan lets loose his fleshed-out smart lad rambles. Fair warning though, this is yet another episode where I decimate the metaphorical horse’s husk with a litany of “bow now now” diatribes and the infamous adjective known as “skronk”.
I will say the instrumentals and harsh mix of vocals in this album stab me in all the right auditory pressure points. From technical guitar flaying to hardcore beatdowns, they consistently surprise and writhe within experimental sepsis. There are moments of brooding atmospheric passages, noisy tempo shifts, and the odd heartrending melody, which keeps Mirrors razor-sharp, sporadic, and varied. The vocals eviscerate and snuff you out of existence while delivering poignant emotional messages. Hell, you even get garroted by some gnarly powerviolence bits here and there. This album unfurls a pain that is harnessed within its exhilarating compositions to imprint upon your cerebrum a memorable scar. I recommend blasting Mirrors to the point of wrecking whatever sound system you are listening to the record on.
Pupil Slicer is a trio from London, England. They consist of Kate Davies (guitars & vocals), Josh Andrews (drums), and Luke Fabian (bass & backing vocals). The band formed in 2016. Since then they have released two splits, an EP, and of course, their debut LP. Mirrors dropped on March 12, 2021 via Prosthetic Records.
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Support Pupil Slicer by purchasing Mirrors via Bandcamp and Big Cartel. There are some pretty sweet-looking vinyls, cassettes, and CDs still available (they got the merch too!). Or, you can just get the digital album. Follow the band on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to keep up to date on new developments from them.
If you’d like to support us beyond listening to our podcast, you can do so by becoming a patron on our Patreon page. There you can read all of the notes we typed in preparation for this review and gain early access to upcoming episodes before their official release. If Patreon isn’t your jam, we recently set up an FCU Venmo account (@From-Corners-Unknown) in case you want to support us via another channel.
Also, if you’re keen on chatting music, shooting us some recommendations, or talking about other forms of media (videogames, films, etc.), please feel free to join us on our Discord server. Thank you so much for your support. In a couple of weeks, we’ll be dropping an interview with Patrik Jarlestam, the composer of the Valheim videogame soundtrack!
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