When Pupil Slicer burst onto the scene in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic circa 2021, they were a breath of fresh air, bringing a varied set of influences alongside a huge love for Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan. Since the release of Mirrors, Pupil Slicer have continued pushing themselves, working in new influences from concept albums and video game soundtracks on second album Blossom.
On their third album, Fleshwork, they’re continuing to try new things while retaining the sharp edges, mathy time signatures and Meshuggah-esque chugs. Decibel spoke with guitarist/vocalist Kate Davies about the new album, getting the lowdown on ten songs that influenced the shape of mathcore to come on Fleshwork, out November 7 on Prosthetic.
Nine Inch Nails – “Somewhat Damaged”
Trent Reznor’s eponymous project, specifically the incarnation from the 1990s, serves as a massive inspiration across tonality, songwriting, visual and sonic fields for PUPIL SLICER as a whole. The oppressive industrial landscapes conjured across The Downward Spiral, Broken and The Fragile capture a rage and raw emotion that is incredibly infectious. This was a great anchor to reflect back to when planning out the tone, textures and attitudes of Fleshwork.
Converge – “Axe To Fall”
A titan of the chaotic hardcore genre, Converge have been a mainstay in the inspiration of Pupil Slicer’s sound since our inception. Axe to Fall happens to be my personal favourite album of theirs and the title track encapsulates everything I love about them. The unhinged nature of the production really makes it sound like the tracks could fall apart at any time and this was something we really strove to achieve with the production on our new album.
Oathbreaker – “Ease Me”
One of the many Belgian projects with members crossing over with (also fantastic) Wiegedood and Amenra, Oathbreaker developed an incredibly distinct and hypnotically unique sound up until their hiatus in 2017. Their final album Rheia and follow-up final single “Ease Me” are masterful works of distilled melancholy, wrenching melodies and blast beats that really take you to another world. I always wanted more of that sound and so, in lieu of their return (besides a one-off festival reunion coming in 2026), I tried to channel some of the magic that originally captured me into writing more music in the vein that I personally wanted to hear.
Poe – “This Road”
From Alan Wake 2, this track explores the spiraling and descent into self-destruction of that story. There are a lot of influences from different video games which deal with themes of self-destruction, cruelty and ignorance on our album, including Silent Hill 3, Mouthwashing and NieR Gestalt.
HEALTH – “STONEFIST”
The title track of our album, Fleshwork originally started out as some brainstormed ideas for what we would write to collaborate with the band HEALTH. That collaboration didn’t end up coming to fruition but we decided to continue working the material we had developed into our own track as we really liked what we had going with it. HEALTH have been in my regular rotation since the release of their 2nd album Get Color in 2009 and they have continued to innovate and be at the top of their game ever since.
Meshuggah – “Ligature Marks”
Meshuggah are a no-brainer. I don’t think there’s anyone in the technical/progressive metal scene who wouldn’t owe something to these pioneers. On Fleshwork we specifically tried experimenting with some more “out-there” lead tones at least partially inspired by Meshuggah’s dream-like and disorientating guitar work that floats above the rest of the mix. Specifically our track “Nomad” has this really cool polyrhythmic lead about 1:55 into the track which was a product of accidentally playing over the main riff in the studio that we ended up loving and so kept in.
Sunn O))) + Boris – “Etna”
2 of my all time favourite bands, both Sunn O))) and Boris are juggernauts of drone and sludge metal. We were lucky enough to tour with Boris back in 2023 and learned so much in the three weeks we were on the road together. They are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met and incredibly talented musicians. I have always wanted to incorporate more of their influences and managed to do so on our track “Innocence”, the second half of which descends into a riff-after-riff pseudo-jam section that was written as such between me and our drummer Josh. At one point we hit a half-time riff that was just calling out for a reverse-reverbed massive delay solo in the style of Wata and I was so stoked to get to lay that down
Knocked Loose – “Don’t Reach For Me”
Currently taking the world by storm, Knocked Loose are almost impossible to ignore right now. Somehow reaching their widest acclaim yet on their third album, which is also their heaviest and most inaccessible, their DIY ethos is an inspiration to all bands in the scene right now. The raw, unbridled aggression of “Don’t Reach For Me” was something I wanted to try to capture, mostly just because it looks so fun to play live. Our track “Sacrosanct” was my best attempt at getting that kind of punch-in-the-face start to a track that just throws you in the deep end.
Static Dress – “clean.”
Since they dropped their debut single “clean.” in 2018, Static Dress have been one of the sickest new bands coming out of the UK. With an incredibly diverse mix of post-hardcore, mathcore, electronic and emo sounds, they write music that is immediate and modern, yet every track immediately sounds like a forgotten classic that you’ve loved since childhood. Like Knocked Loose, their DIY ethos and incredibly strong vision for the project have set them apart from their peers and made them an inspiration to others in the scene, including myself. Our track “Heather” would be the closest we get on our new album to trying to capture that instant-classic sound and I believe it to be one of our best written tracks to date.
Deafheaven – “Sunbather”
What Pupil Slicer list would be complete without Deafheaven? One pillar of the triumvirate of our biggest influences (Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Deafheaven), Deafheaven remain one of my, Josh [Andrews, drums] and Luke’s [Booth, bass] favourite bands of all time, if not the number one. Their blackgaze influence has been present across each of our albums and that trend continues into Fleshwork. Their latest release, Ordinary People With Power, cemented this status as they released possibly their best album to date and one that will undoubtedly be in competition for each of our album of the year slots.
The post Pupil Slicer’s Kate Davies Names 10 Songs That Influenced Their New Album, <i>Fleshwork</i> appeared first on Decibel Magazine.