I had to give this new Pupil Slicer video a look based on that band name alone. Just when it seems as if metal band names and song subject matter can’t possibly get any more gory after how ever many decades, along come these London-based noise-makers to give me the heebie-jeebies. Shit, I recoil when someone talks about getting Lasik surgery… that shit scares me! Let alone having my eye literally cut upon. Is that what Lasik is, slicing a pupil? I don’t know, and frankly I don’t care to for the sake of my already-horrifying nightmares.
I’d also seen the requisite Twitter hype on this band over the last few days and, well, I’m happy to report they don’t disappoint. In “Wounds Upon My Skin,” the debut single from their forthcoming album Mirrors, the band meld old-school Botch/Dillinger-style skronk and chaos with a sensibility rooted more in death metal than anything. On its own this combination might not seem especially novel, but Pupil Slicer have done it in such a way that it is. It works.
Katie Davies (vocals/guitars) comments:
“‘Wounds Upon My Skin’ was one of the first tracks we wrote for this album and marked a turning point where I realised I could really write anything I wanted to put in a song and make it work. It was also the starting place for the thematic elements of the album, it was the first time I had explored more introspective and personal concepts in my lyrics.
“I used ‘Mirrors’ as a vehicle to exorcise many painful experiences; topics of abuse, social anxiety and depression alongside the injustices, iniquities and oppression that many are forced to endure simply due to their existence make up the fabric of this LP. The title ‘Mirrors’ itself is an example of these themes of introspection whilst also representing the reflection of the reality of society many face today. The response we got to our first single was overwhelmingly positive and we can’t wait for you to experience the rest of what we have put together.”
Watch the video for “Wounds Upon My Skin” below. Mirrors comes out on March 12 via Prosthetic; pre-order here.