Artwork by: Artist Unknown

Style: Mathcore, metalcore, post-hardcore, sludge metal (Harsh Vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Rolo Tomassi, Employed to Serve, Heriot, Svalbard
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: 7 November 2025

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There’s a tendency for metal bands, especially heavy or technically dense ones, to skew towards more “mainstream” acceptability as time goes on. More melody, simpler time signatures, less non-euclidean compositions, et cetera. And I get it. Making that kind of music is hard, often born from very specific circumstances, so multi-layered and interlocked with one another that to try and peel them apart for the purpose of replication would assuredly result in disaster. There’s also some bands’ desire (and, I’d argue, need) to gain a wider audience; after all, being a working musician has become harder and harder over the years, and I certainly won’t begrudge anyone, uh, wanting to actually support themselves in sustainable ways doing the things they love. Doesn’t mean I’ll always enjoy what they’re putting out, but hey, it’s not all about me.

And while I don’t think anyone could accuse London, UK spitfires Pupil Slicer of seeking mainstream acceptance, they’ve definitely been riding elements of that particular curve. Debut Mirrors (2021) was a seething mass of skronk-ed out riffage, grindcore blastbeats, and vocalist Kate Davies’ larynx shredding screams heaped atop an atmosphere of pure nastiness, like early Slipknot got into a twelve-car pileup with Dillinger Escape Plan. Follow-up Blossom (2023), however, saw the young act stripping back some of the acidity for a more structured, atmospheric approach, with Davies adding ethereal cleans to their repertoire of anguished howling and visceral roars. It was an experience that left you less “scraped across concrete” and more “shivering in the dead of a hostile night.” Still vicious, still spitty, but with sung choruses and groove! Now, we have Pupil Slicer’s third LP, Fleshwork, and I had to wonder: Would the band continue their trek toward metal suburbia? Or had they decided to catch the bus back to Skronk City?

From the opening moments of “Heather,” I could tell Pupil Slicer had torn their tickets and skipped the bus entirely. There’s an immediate sense of groove and flow, not to mention recognizable riffs, that had me bobbing my head in ways that Mirrors simply wasn’t designed for, and that makes Blossom feel closer in DNA to their debut. Three songs in and I’m hearing more Employed to Serve and Volatile Ways than Dillinger—and that’s not a bad thing. Much as I appreciated the ferocity of Mirrors, its inscrutable angularity made for difficult repeat listens. Likewise Blossom, though it comparatively skewed closer to approachable. Fleshwork’s songs offer a palatable ebb and flow that makes it easy to slot yourself into the music, even when Josh Andrews is nailing some hypercharged blastbeats or cymbal fills (“Gordian,” “Innocence”). Davies’ guitar tone is low and gnarly and dedicated to dropping groove-filled riff after groove-filled riff, syncing up with new bassist Luke Booth’s tenebrous rhythms, while Davies’ keys add bright, dystopian touches on tracks like “Heather.” Elements of their unhinged chaos still remain, though, especially on “Black Scrawl,” which rips open with an unchecked energy and violence without uncoupling itself from the album’s inclination towards melody. Interestingly enough, the clean vocals that helped define Blossom’s shift are mostly absent here, relegated to atmospheric tools rather than chorus-makers. Davies’ vocals are as vicious and ragged as ever, spitting, screaming, and howling out furies and fears aplenty across Fleshwork’s thirty-six minutes.

On first listen, Fleshwork cements itself as a solid, if ultimately serviceable (i.e. disposable) work of extreme metal; catchy in the moment yet fleeting in the aftermath. However, the more I’ve dug into Fleshwork, the more meat I’ve found, and the bones are quite sturdy, too. Perhaps more so than on previous albums, Pupil Slicer have stitched together a hodgepodge of genre selections—modern metal electronics, mathcore skronk, nu-metal groove, stomping hardcore, et cetera—into a near-seamless skinsuit, within which they strutted and swaggered and, yes, even bleghed their way into the front-end of my listening rotation. Songs which seemed at best good in isolation suddenly lurched into my waking moments, given new power and magnetism until I couldn’t help but return for another helping of Andrews’ rolling kitwork segueing “Innocence” and “Black Scrawl;” the tremoloed heartache of “Nomad;” or the title track, with its visceral Forlorn-esque seething and ritualistic heft.

The path of accessibility is often littered with derision and the perceived death of quality and creativity. However, while Pupil Slicer may have toned down the mayhem on Fleshwork, they sound more refined and lethal than ever before, fueled by potent compositions that rip through genres without getting lost in the woods. Third time’s the charm, it’s often said, and, at least for this reviewer, Fleshwork proves the old adage true. Granted, OG fans pining for the days of Mirrors’ proper lunacy or Blossom’s heady atmosphere may find themselves disappointed by the rabid Londoners’ latest, but when the road ahead sounds this good, there’s little reason to waste money on a ticket home.

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Recommended tracks: Heather, Sacrosanct, Black Scrawl, Fleshwork
You may also like: Volatile Ways, Sunrot, Calva Louise
Final verdict: 8/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | RateYourMusic

Label: Prosthetic Records

Pupil Slicer is:
– Kate Davies (vocals, guitars, keys)
– Luke Booth (bass, vocals)
– Josh Andrews (drums)