Pupil Slicer‘s debut album, Mirrors, catapulted the London-based outfit to the forefront of the metal scene. Two years later, their sophomore album shows just how far that launch propelled them.
Blossom is an intense and immersive, cinematic soundscape littered with sci-fi themes of cosmic horror. The 10-track concept album sees Pupil Slicer exploring new ground, departing from vocalist Kate Davies’ autobiographical lyrics, which dominated Mirrors, to find inspiration in modern media, from books to video games. It builds on the grinding mathcore that dominated Pupil Slicer’s debut with a wealth of new influences—Nine Inch Nails, Deftones, Radiohead—to create a more nuanced, mature sound. Layering in more clean vocals and melodies, Blossom balances a blend of new genres while doubling-down on the chaotic sound established on Mirrors.
Much like a movie, Blossom is meant to be enjoyed front to back, without interruption. It opens softly with ‘Glaring Dark of Night,’ a sleepy, one-minute track that lulls listeners into the dreamscape where a narrative will soon unfold. But the illusion of the soft and dreamy opener falls apart almost as soon as it begins—The bottom drops out with the next track, leaving listeners to fall down Pupil Slicer’s rabbit hole.
The second track on the album, “Momentary Actuality,” is a sweeping overture that previews what’s yet to come. The sonic assault revisits the mathy grindcore that dominated Mirrors, before offering glimpses of more melodic moments still to come. Throughout the rest of the album, Pupil Slicer delves deeper into each new influence it previews on this track.
Tracks like “Dim Morning Light” see Pupil Slicer take the biggest departures from the sound they established with their debut. Most notably, “The Song At Creation’s End,” a sprawling, eight-minute track, blends shoegaze and hardcore, creating a sound much more like early 2000s acts like Circa Survive than the Dillinger Escape Plan sonics that dominated Mirrors. But Pupil Slicer finds the greatest balance with tracks like “Departure In Solitude,” “Creating The Devil In Our Image,” and “No Temple” which blend disparate influences with raw intensity to create a surprisingly cohesive whole.
One of the more unsettling moments in the nightmarish narrative arrives near the end of the album, in the form of “Language of the Stars.” A slow, haunting piano opens the track before making way for a barely emergent whisper. “They were terrified,” The voice repeats. “Like a light too bright to look upon directly, it burned them. For they could not unlearn what was hidden away in darkness.” Then the soundscape begins to distort, making it more and more difficult to make out the narrator’s mantra before everything slowly fades to silence.
Tracks like “Terminal Lucidity” hold soft moments that tease reprieve from the cosmic horror with ethereal acoustics. But this only lasts briefly before Pupil Slicer turn the volume all the way back up.
The album winds down with a swell of emotion on “Dim Morning Light.” Dipping into a soft melancholy mood, the track holds space for Davies’ raw vocals, backed by anguished, feathery guitar that makes appearances throughout the album. Then it closes out with the first single and title track of the album: “Blossom.”
Following the unexpected acclaim of their debut, it may have been uncertain whether Pupil Slicer would be able to keep up the intensity established on Mirrors. But Blossom only builds on the raw chaos by layering in melodies, establishing space for catchy hooks, and pushing boundaries.
Blossom will be available everywhere on June 2.
