Mirror Talk by Sugar Spine

Sugar Spine, the metallic hardcore project from Sydney, Australia, has unshackled something of earth-shattering proportions. ‘Mirror Talk’ is a relentless 7-track mix of intense riffy onslaughts, technical sequences and thundering beatdowns. “This thing is pretty damn aggressive,” remarks Josh Muncke, the sole member of the project. “When writing these tracks, I really wanted to transfer a huge energy to the listener, as well as a good dose of anger. These tracks all revolve around some heavy but important topics, and the sonic delivery had to match the weight of the subjects.”

The lyrics are paramount across ‘Mirror Talk’, and express a hostile disdain towards themes such as misogyny, political corruption, islamophobia and more. Whilst being mastered by Ryan Wood at 105mm Studios, it was produced on a laptop and mixed with a combination of headphones and AirPods. ‘Mirror Talk’ is about as personal and driven as music gets. “Whilst I was constantly tempted to outsource the production to people of much higher skill and calibre than myself, I really wanted to put my whole being into the sound that Sugar Spine was going for, a sound that wasn’t perfect and polished. After months of tweaking things and my laptop almost blowing up, I got what I wanted in the end.”

Back in September, Muncke returned to Australia after spending some time overseas, but on arriving in Sydney, he was met with military presence and transferred to mandatory hotel quarantine. “Long story short, I needed to come back to Aus, and the rules here were pretty gnarly when it came to international arrivals. You’re put in a hotel room for 14 days and can’t leave the room. I was lucky in that my room had space to move around and exercise, but for others it’s a struggle to be stuck in there.”
‘Go Outside’, the debut single from Sugar Spine, was recorded in this room, and people started noticing immediately. “For an unknown artist, hitting 10,000 views on YouTube in 3 weeks and landing on some pretty solid Spotify playlists was more surprising than it was reassuring. I think a lot of people possessed the same feelings of anger that I put forward on that track, so it resonated well with them”.

The first single to come off of ‘Mirror Talk’ was “Gutter Paint”, which ravenously decries nepotism and corruption in the political sphere. “This track completely encapsulates Sugar Spine for me,” Muncke says, “it’s insanely heavy, technical without being ridiculous, politically charged to the genuine bullshit, and I had so much fun recording it. The name “Gutter Paint” sparks colourful imagination as well, so I’m excited to see how people respond to it.”

“Mirror Talk” was the second track to be dropped like a bomb, and it took listeners by absolute surprise. The angelic hopeful introduction is deceptive in every way possible, with only a rumbling bass tone to signify the destruction that ensues. “I chuckled a tad when listening back to the first mix. It really punches you in the head, hard… That first minute of “Mirror Talk” is presented in perfect visual form through the EP cover art, and is the foundation for a lot of what is happening throughout the EP. Call it cryptic, but the song is the instigator to everything else, as well as its eventual result.”

Quickly building a fanbase and making ripples in the metal world, Sugar Spine’s debut EP ‘Mirror Talk’ is going to explode, turning heads and grabbing throats everywhere for a solid 30 minutes. If people thought the debut single ‘Go Outside’ was aggressive, they have no idea what they’re in for.

Angry, hard-hitting, and unflinching. These are only a few words to describe the freshly established Sugar Spine, a hardcore-infused metalcore project from Sydney, Australia. Born out of the creative captivity of quarantine and self-isolation during the pandemic, Sugar Spine isn't as sweet as it sounds.
The music revolves around raw emotion, and zeroes in on sheer rage.

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