Review Summary: This is what happens in the mountains.
It wasn't exactly a surprise to learn that Brighton's next-best export was rocking such a dubious moniker, relative to the progressive, blackened death metal they play. It seems the sarcasm of the Brits doesn't translate well to band names, but fortunately for Slice the Cake,
Odyssey to the West is almost intriguing enough to make you forget their absurd handle. However, "almost" doesn't cut the mustard; this album is a ferociously large slice of cake. While there may be enough music here to fill half a dozen grind albums, the band make great use of a multitude of genres to keep things sounding fresh. Lead by a careening vocal performance, this proggy epic's procedural unfolding is quite extraordinary to behold.
"The Razor's Edge" opens the album with some beautifully subtle, clean guitar and a slightly casual narration; it's a post-modern fairy tale presented as a poem. The rest of
Odyssey to the West follows both structurally and lyrically in this stead. While progressive metal acts as the backbone of the album, elements of death, black, folk, and atmospheric metal are all used strategically to keep the adventure pushing forward. There are occasional returns to bare-bones narration which prevent the album from leaving mystical elements behind in the dust. Cohesion is never compromised, however. The mass amount of ideas are tied together incredibly well, and many of these individual components serve purely as transitional pieces; "Unending Waltz" acts as a powerful, post-inspired midway point, before "Ash and Rust Part I" propels the second half of the album into darker, brooding territories. Album closer "The Holy Mountain" not only stands tall as the best track on the record, but is pushed to further heights by the masterfully paced, and incrementally building tracks that precede it.
Odyssey to the West is clearly the product of its time; production is the spitting image of current progressive metal. Guitars carry a certain metallic weight due to the boosted mid-range and utilization of low tuning. However, there is an adequate amount of bite to keep black and death metal segments sounding authentic and aggressive. Many of the songs are driven by melodic riffs and the implementation of layering, allowing a surprising level of track individuality for a 15 part record. The riffs vary from slow-paced chugging to blast-driven shredding and everything in between. The bass work spends most of its time following the rhythm guitar, but occasional licks and a chunky, clear tone allow for it to stand apart as a well-performed instrument that is perfectly audible in the mix. However, percussive instrumentation proves to be a production shortcoming. While the drum programming is written brilliantly, the overall sound comes off as a tad sterile. Due to layering and the fantastic writing job, however, the machinated feel becomes unnoticeable minutes in.
Representing such a broad, adventure narrative in music at least deserves an equally broad selection of influences to keep individual chapters memorable. Slice the Cake have hit the nail on the head with
Odyssey to the West as it manages to seamlessly present a multitude of ideas without abandoning its core values. Every piece to the puzzle points to a larger image, and what a spectacle it is. The intricacies of storytelling are shown in full as the record leaps and bounds from style to style, track to track. Progressive death metal doesn't often shed light on the idea of venturing into the unknown. Maybe the likes of Wilderun and Slice the Cake are the advent of a new wave of progressive mysticism. But until these tales of old get their progressive death makeover, I'll live forever in exile.
. Heard good things about this album and you make it sound appealing, will check. 
