REVIEW/ 11/23/24 ODYSSEY TO THE WEST BY SLICE THE CAKE

Gosh this has been a long time coming. This entire essay has taken forever. For example this whole preamble has been written before most of the other parts in this essay! The truth is, I’ve been lazy… Also trying to find ways to make Yu-Gi-Oh interesting, and also this fucking album is a trek! Pun intended! The main theme of this album is redemption. A pilgrim who decimated Native American land in an attempt to make up for his misdeeds in his life in Britain, but when he does decimate the Native American land, all in the name of god mind you, he gets attacked by demons who steal his face both metaphorically, and literally. Gosh that's a lot, but also sprinkled in there’s druidism, a song that is just a huge reference to the insane clown posse? But on top of that the most beautiful song of the Album, Castle in The Sky Part II - Pieces in Ruin in of itself is based off of Shadow of The Colossus? That one really good ps2 game in 2005 but was even better on the ps3-that being said this was hard, a lot of emotions, feelings, and knowledge just on the back of my hand that is making me second guess my whole understanding of this album. With all of that being said, here’s my best attempt at understanding this piece of art(pun intended). Slice the Cake’s magnum opus and last album(for now?) Odyssey to The West. With supplemental pieces from Odyssey to The Gallows and their first album, The Man With No Face. Thats enough preamble, lets fucking start this shit.

Part 1 - The Story. This story starts as many do in Great Britain, the character we follow, The Pilgrim, committed a great offense, although we do not know what it is, it is so bad he has been sent to the gallows, and as implied in the title, of the first track of “The Exile Part I - The Razors Edge”, he contemplated suicide because of it, dishonoring his wife. From the lyrics of “Odyssey to The Gallows” it’s implied he went against the church, probably blasphemy from all of the harshness he said about God, and his mysterious ways. For whatever reason, probably church ordered, right on the brink of his death, he’s been sent to go on a Pilgrimage to America, to colonize it. This gives him his belief in God again, that his righteous cause will bring back the lost love of his wife, and erase his shame. From his travels in America he is still weary of God, and with his lantern it’ll blind the eyes of God, more about all of these metaphors later. As he climbs the mountain of man where he is free to express himself and be himself, with the light of the lantern blocking the eyes of God, he meets the Horned God. Although he is based on druidism which is an European thing and the whole deal about protection circles doesn’t help the case, we have to suspend our beliefs and just take it, besides it doesn’t really hinder it? Anyway, this Horned God grants The Pilgrim a protection circle, protecting him from demons, and God, all in the promise that The Pilgrim doesn’t fall for destiny. Later on The Pilgrim takes a Native American village, his wife dies most likely from church shenanigans, and The Pilgrim finds himself at his lowest point, his protection circle fades, all of his dreams, aspirations, and faith are all he has left, and after an altercation with an oracle he questions what is his destiny? And if he is a fool of it. The Pilgrim then gets possessed by a demon and the demon wreaks havoc on the way to The Pilgrims place he dreamed of from the beginning, the Holy Mountain. While possessed he physically didn’t have a face, but instead a theater mask. The Pilgrim trapped in his own body, forced to watch his body do things against his own will, reducing the land to ash, and dust. Unto the summit of the Holy Mountain, The Pilgrims protection circle reappears, as the demon loosens control, The Pilgrim understands now that his destiny was to die on that fateful day in gallows, but he lets go of that, The Pilgrim now dawns the title as The Author, because the pilgrim's path was never his own, as he writes his own destiny, instead of God. With his life fading away, he climbs the top of the Holy Mountain, and gives one last prayer for peace amongst the madness of religion, and gives one last message to God to let release control or give everyone their own free will, if destruction in the name of God brings nothing but darkness, but if you go against the will of God brings death, then what's the point of life? As The Author takes his life to let his message be heard.

Part 2 - The Meaning. Now what does this all mean? Aside from the obvious of religion being bogus, there are some metaphors and deeper meanings to this all, that I believe the musical style itself exemplifies the story and the deeper meanings. The genre is listed as “Progressive Deathcore” which makes sense but doesn’t really do it justice? Take “The Exile Part I - The Razors Edge” and the literal second song, “The Exile Part II - The City of Destruction”, or in the tasty licks section, take the three snippets of songs I use, “The Exile Part I - The Razors Edge”, “Castle in the Sky Part II - Pieces of Ruins”, and “The Holy Mountain”, they are very different, The Razors Edge is harsh, but not as harsh as The Holy Mountain, but not as soft as Pieces of Ruins, it’s in utter flux, but that's not a bad thing-I’ll go into this more in the final part of this, the review, but this is the way as it represents the Pilgrims journey. The metaphors in The Pilgrim's path are very compelling, the lantern blinding the eyes of God, fire being an Earthly possession that Zeus did not want humanity to discover as it will make humanity progress past the point of gods, the mountain of man vs the Holy Mountain are representative of discovering one's self, the mountain of man, and discovering one’s predetermined path, the fact that The Pilgrim needed the fire to blind God from truth of humanity is all very compelling. The protection circle represents opening your mind up to different ideas than the predetermined path, the fact it was granted by the Native Americans goes to show the hesitation The Pilgrim has towards the path, and him following the path subjects him to the own demons his faith has granted him. IT’S ALL SO COOL. The lows in The Pilgrims life, his rage and uncertainty he has in his faith being why the music itself gets harsh, the sentiment and regret, why the music gets soft, it’s so amazing.

Part 3 - The Review. Finally, the review. This album sounds very gothic, and not like in the Type O Negative way, but the synths, and guitar riffs are so moody, and drawn out, how you wish goth metal would sound like. It’s very story driven in that way, like what you’d hear in a show or game OST rather than an actual album? I won’t personally consider that a bad thing, but I know some people do not personally like that so much, I don’t judge them for that if they are reading this to each their own and all that junk. The lyrics are compelling but also kinda corny all things considered. Songs like “Castle in the Sky Part II - Pieces of Ruins”, just sounds like Kenny’s first sad song, Ash and Rust parts I - IV are… edgy no other better way of describing it. “The Exile Part I - The Razors Edge” has some weird of lyrics like, “And one might think it's such a pity to be standing on the razor's edge no, how Occam would be ashamed”, you’d think oh razor's edge, like Occam’s razor, but when you read into it, Occam’s razor dictates the simplest explanation is usually the best, and the simplest explanation is your cutting yourself which is the simplest explanation, so why would he be ashamed? Maybe I’m reading it wrong. The music itself is very simple, like I learned The Holy Mountain in a day, and I can tell I can learn most of the album in a similar time. And I suck! But that only matters if you’re a stooge. It all sounds cool, and good. It’s a very unique album, nothing much like it other than like The Eldritch Realm by Parius? Kinda? A bit? I could’ve sworn there was another band that had a similar odyssey type album but I don’t truly know. If you have an itch for an early 2010s tumblr band making their most artsy work ever, I’d recommend this album. 8/10. Now next time let's take a bit of a breather… I guess you will call yourself an exhaler..?