ALBUM REVIEW: Sliced To Perfection – Blåådpalt

Finnish death metallers BLÅÅDPALT are gearing up for the February 28th release of their debut album Sliced To Perfection. Having only formed in 2017, their first single God Of Razorblade was a surprise hit in the underground death metal scene (whether underground death metal has ‘hits’ per se is a different question), showing off their ability to mix brutality with atmosphere and subtly funky groove.

The opener, Corpse, kicks off with a thick guitar tone and some slippery hammer-on riffage à la late-2000s CANNIBAL CORPSE. The vocals aren’t quite as guttural as the death metal innovators, though, with slightly higher frequencies working their way towards the sound of Peter Tägtgren of BLOODBATH. Their unique sound reveals itself very early on, with the dissonant guitar lines being underpinned by drum patterns full of offbeat snare hits and surprisingly delicate control of the ride cymbal.

On God Of Razorblade the band explain, that “we chose God of Razorblade as the single release from our album, because it reflects the band`s music overall. It has rawness and groovy parts, but also a melodic ambiance. The second verse’s vocal parts were replaced by a guitar solo during the mixing stage, which brought more versatility to the track”. The track itself spawned their first music video, which is about as bleak and bloody as you might expect.

From its title, track six might look like it’s about to be a Kate Bush cover, but Red Shores ends up being one of the most aggressive tunes on the record. A fast, distant riff kicks off proceedings before exploding through three-minutes of open hi-hats, soaring high-pitched guitar melodies and a call and response chorus. The track that follows goes in the opposite direction at first, with Vlad aiming for atmosphere in its introduction and delivering dissonant chords throughout the groovy verses.

The album’s title track is yet another exploration of the band’s masterful ability to inflect jazzy undertones into their music. The opening riff is filled out with yet more off-beat snare hits and strangely catchy melodic fragments, with the pounding insistence of the verses that follow reminiscing of early THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER. The Sculptor brings the album to a close with a massive bang and no whimper in sight. The technicality of the opening riff shows the technical proficiency of each band member, with the flips between shuddering half-time downbeats and fast-paced shredding demonstrating their compositional prowess.

On the whole, BLÅÅDPALT has delivered a fully formed slice of well-produced death metal in Sliced To Perfection. Merging a BLOODBATH-esque proclivity for catchiness with hints towards CANNIBAL CORPSE and THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and some impressively jazzy undertones.

Rating: 8/10

Sliced To Perfection is set for release on February 28th via Inverse Records.

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