Review: “Caedite Eos” by Blåådpalt

It’s been a long hard road out of hell for Blåådpalt with line up changes seemingly the root cause of their tooth decay. The Oulu Finland natives first appeared on the scene in 2017 and rose to prominence in 2020 with a debut album in “Sliced To Perfection” that delivers a brutal interpretation of Death Metal about their favourite subject. Blood. Since then, the revolving door has left guitarist and main song writer Tuomas Laurila the last man standing of that line up with new members entering the fray. The band have slimmed down to a quartet with Jyrki Hiltunen, known for his work in Napalm Ted as their new vocalist, new drummer Panu Lyytikäinen being credited with the lyrics and cover artwork on this one. Curiously bassist Janne Riikola is listed as guest performer…

Confirming what a labour of love the record is, the drums for this one were recorded in May 2021, vocals in March 2022 and guitars in between, mixing and mastering by Janne Riikola at DollarSound Studios taking place before the final release. Given the changes to the line up a fair question would be… does it still sound like Blåådpalt? The answer to that is a resounding yes, the black heart of darkness, the essence of the sound of the band is all Laurila. That’s obvious within the first 60 seconds of “Martyrdom 101” and it’s clear that he’s made every effort to surround himself with a talented bunch of musicians who can undertake his vision for Death Metal and execute it to perfection. The track itself begins with a cinematic moment of macabre orchestration before the thunderous percussion and rumbling bass take hold, a razor sharp main riff cutting flesh to the bone. The bands last frontman Sami Kärkkäinen has a blood curdling, gravel gargling vocal style but here Hiltunen matches him stride for stride, the face melting solo enough to put a cyclops on his ass.

While the opening cut is a pure fire breathing rager, “Existence is Suffering” is has more of menacing edge as the dark inner voice pushes you to suicidal thoughts as a way out of the suffering of modern day life. Underneath the thin veil, its a cut surprisingly socially and politically aware with a vocal snarl of intensity that bleeds from the same vein as “Sweating Bullets” by Megadeth. It finishes on another face melting extended solo as Laurila makes the fretboard smoulder before “5250” gives us a lethal injection of Groove. Melancholia creeps up beside that with the lead layer of the guitars during the blood spitting chorus, the staccato riff break infestations that swirl around the verse being an absolute joy to behold and a head bangers pleasure. Hiltunen reaches an new gravelly low with “The Plague Does Not Discriminate” as discusses the complete annihilation of the human race, his barbed vocal onslaught the perfect match for the thunderous hellscape the band have created to sit behind it. Lyytikäinen offers up arguably his finest performance from behind the kit on this one which has more of a Death Thrash orientation.

The title track on any record should always be one of its stand outs, the one that the band think is their finest moment and “Caedite Eos” doesn’t disappoint. Translated from the Latin for “Kill Them” its just as fierce as the previous cut but with a greater intensity with bursts of blasting and sinister tempo changes giving not only a better dynamic but more cut and thrust. Hiltunen sounds demonic armed with Lyytikäinen’s lyrics, the pair to be dissected for analysis by scalpel armed deranged scientists for this monstrosity. There is no mistaking the formula with Laurila loving a solo to end a song and that doesn’t change with the final death note “Impurity In Its Finest Form“. A twisted tale about a demon of the night, it’s another dark delight that confirms that good things come to those who wait and when destined for hell, death is only the beginning… [8/10]

Track Listing

1. Martyrdom 101
2. Existence is Suffering
3. 5250
4. The Plague Does Not Discriminate
5. Caedite Eos
6. Impurity In Its Finest Form

“Caedite Eos” by Blåådpalt is out 1st June 2023 via Inverse Records with pre-orders available over at bandcamp.