Photograph: Derek Brenner
When Pupil Slicer burst onto the scene within the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic circa 2021, they have been a breath of contemporary air, bringing a assorted set of influences alongside an enormous love for Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan. For the reason that launch of Mirrors, Pupil Slicer have continued pushing themselves, working in new influences from idea albums and online game soundtracks on second album Blossom.
On their third album, Fleshwork, they’re persevering with to attempt new issues whereas retaining the sharp edges, mathy time signatures and Meshuggah-esque chugs. Decibel spoke with guitarist/vocalist Kate Davies in regards to the new album, getting the lowdown on ten songs that influenced the form of mathcore to come back on Fleshwork, out November 7 on Prosthetic.
9 Inch Nails – “Considerably Broken”
Trent Reznor’s eponymous undertaking, particularly the incarnation from the Nineteen Nineties, serves as a large inspiration throughout tonality, songwriting, visible and sonic fields for PUPIL SLICER as an entire. The oppressive industrial landscapes conjured throughout The Downward Spiral, Damaged and The Fragile seize a rage and uncooked emotion that’s extremely infectious. This was an ideal anchor to mirror again to when planning out the tone, textures and attitudes of Fleshwork.
Converge – “Axe To Fall”
A titan of the chaotic hardcore style, Converge have been a mainstay within the inspiration of Pupil Slicer’s sound since our inception. Axe to Fall occurs to be my private favorite album of theirs and the title monitor encapsulates every part I like about them. The unhinged nature of the manufacturing actually makes it sound just like the tracks might disintegrate at any time and this was one thing we actually strove to realize with the manufacturing on our new album.
Oathbreaker – “Ease Me”
One of many many Belgian tasks with members crossing over with (additionally implausible) Wiegedood and Amenra, Oathbreaker developed an extremely distinct and hypnotically distinctive sound up till their hiatus in 2017. Their last album Rheia and follow-up last single “Ease Me” are masterful works of distilled melancholy, wrenching melodies and blast beats that actually take you to a different world. I all the time wished extra of that sound and so, in lieu of their return (in addition to a one-off competition reunion coming in 2026), I attempted to channel a number of the magic that initially captured me into writing extra music within the vein that I personally wished to listen to.
Poe – “This Street”
From Alan Wake 2, this monitor explores the spiraling and descent into self-destruction of that story. There are a number of influences from completely different video video games which take care of themes of self-destruction, cruelty and ignorance on our album, together with Silent Hill 3, Mouthwashing and NieR Gestalt.
HEALTH – “STONEFIST”
The title monitor of our album, Fleshwork initially began out as some brainstormed concepts for what we might write to collaborate with the band HEALTH. That collaboration didn’t find yourself coming to fruition however we determined to proceed working the fabric we had developed into our personal monitor as we actually preferred what we had going with it. HEALTH have been in my common rotation because the launch of their 2nd album Get Shade in 2009 they usually have continued to innovate and be on the prime of their recreation ever since.
Meshuggah – “Ligature Marks”
Meshuggah are a no brainer. I don’t assume there’s anybody within the technical/progressive steel scene who wouldn’t owe one thing to those pioneers. On Fleshwork we particularly tried experimenting with some extra “out-there” lead tones at the least partially impressed by Meshuggah’s dream-like and disorientating guitar work that floats above the remainder of the combination. Particularly our monitor “Nomad” has this actually cool polyrhythmic lead about 1:55 into the monitor which was a product of by chance enjoying over the primary riff within the studio that we ended up loving and so saved in.
Sunn O))) + Boris – “Etna”
2 of my all time favorite bands, each Sunn O))) and Boris are juggernauts of drone and sludge steel. We have been fortunate sufficient to tour with Boris again in 2023 and discovered a lot within the three weeks we have been on the highway collectively. They’re a number of the nicest individuals I’ve ever met and extremely gifted musicians. I’ve all the time wished to include extra of their influences and managed to take action on our monitor “Innocence”, the second half of which descends right into a riff-after-riff pseudo-jam part that was written as such between me and our drummer Josh. At one level we hit a half-time riff that was simply calling out for a reverse-reverbed huge delay solo within the type of Wata and I used to be so stoked to get to put that down
Knocked Unfastened – “Don’t Attain For Me”
Presently taking the world by storm, Knocked Unfastened are virtually unimaginable to disregard proper now. In some way reaching their widest acclaim but on their third album, which can be their heaviest and most inaccessible, their DIY ethos is an inspiration to all bands within the scene proper now. The uncooked, unbridled aggression of “Don’t Attain For Me” was one thing I wished to attempt to seize, largely simply because it appears to be like so enjoyable to play reside. Our monitor “Sacrosanct” was my finest try at getting that type of punch-in-the-face begin to a monitor that simply throws you within the deep finish.
Static Costume – “clear.”
Since they dropped their debut single “clear.” in 2018, Static Costume have been one of many sickest new bands popping out of the UK. With an extremely various mixture of post-hardcore, mathcore, digital and emo sounds, they write music that’s rapid and trendy, but each monitor instantly feels like a forgotten traditional that you just’ve beloved since childhood. Like Knocked Unfastened, their DIY ethos and extremely robust imaginative and prescient for the undertaking have set them aside from their friends and made them an inspiration to others within the scene, together with myself. Our monitor “Heather” could be the closest we get on our new album to attempting to seize that instant-classic sound and I imagine it to be one in all our greatest written tracks so far.
Deafheaven – “Sunbather”
What Pupil Slicer record could be full with out Deafheaven? One pillar of the triumvirate of our greatest influences (Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Deafheaven), Deafheaven stay one in all my, Josh [Andrews, drums] and Luke’s [Booth, bass] favorite bands of all time, if not the primary. Their blackgaze affect has been current throughout every of our albums and that development continues into Fleshwork. Their newest launch, Atypical Individuals With Energy, cemented this standing as they launched probably their finest album so far and one that may undoubtedly be in competitors for every of our album of the 12 months slots.
