Tranzat – Ouh La La
Release Date: 1st April 2021
Label: Klonosphere Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive Metal
FFO: Mastodon, Faith No More, Devin Townsend, Opeth.
Review By: Séamus Patrick Burke
How can you not love a metal band with song titles like “Pillow Fight”??
We’re getting ahead of ourselves; it’s already difficult enough to be funny. It’s even more difficult to write a memorable song that people enjoy listening to over and over again. To do both means you have to be good at two things at once. You have to write enjoyable music while also making sure the joke doesn’t get old on a second listen.
There’s also a common misconception about “funny” music, especially in rock and metal. A lot of your favorite rock musicians either are or were way funnier than you gave them credit for. People focus so much on the tragedy of Kurt Cobain’s life that they forget a lot of his songs were laced with pitch-black, sardonic humor. Rock musicians are total goofballs offstage. Some of that spirit is gonna creep into the music sooner or later.
That’s where Tranzat comes in. The French metal quartet name checks Faith No More amongst their influences, and anyone who knows Faith No More beyond “Epic” will see that as an apt comparison. On top of being trailblazers and genre-hoppers, Faith No More also had a sarcastic “don’t give a fuck” attitude when it came to their image. The end of their original run had them performing in Armani suits and covering Lionel Richie just to piss off hardcore metal fans. Their reunion had them performing on a stage covered in flowers while they performed classics like “Gizzlobber” and “Surprise! You’re Dead!” But at no point could you deny their talent and intensity.
Tranzat fits into a similar category; fusing solid metal chops with an “anything goes” comedic spirit. It’s the rock version of a professional wrestler in a tutu. And they’ve released their new album Ouh La La on April Fool’s Day to boot, just as God intended.
You can probably name-check System of a Down as an influence too, because like System, Tranzat doesn’t even give you room to breathe when they kick things off. “Shall We Dance” throws you right in the deep end with quadruple blast beats before switching things up for a looser, jazzy feel by the end of the verse. This isn’t the band’s first wine-tasting, so guitarist/singer Manuel Linard and guitarist/keyboardist Ben Arbellot take us on an impressive tour of their skills, while bassist Nicolas Galakhoff and drummer Thomas Coic try to roughly give this madness some structure.
Lead single “Lobster Beaujolais” is where the band really stretches their vocal range, going for big chants and Cookie Monster vocals that actually sound provided by Cookie Monster. One of the areas where the band has the most fun is just messing with the typical structure you expect from metal songs. “Mr. Awesome” opens with an especially funny moment where Linard tries to count the band in but misses his mark slightly with an “O-Oh okay…”
While Tranzat aren’t afraid to take the piss, we must make it absolutely clear this does not diminish their skills or intensity as a metal band. This isn’t like Okilly Dokilly, where the joke wasn’t very funny to start with, and the music doesn’t live up to the hype. Tracks like “Climbing Tibetan Mountains to Learn the Secrets of the Mind” show the band can sincerely live up to the epic scale of their influences, and “Lord Dranula” is quite effective as creating a haunting atmosphere. And then of course there’s the incessant pounding glory of “Pillow Fight”.
Tranzat have come out of nowhere and delivered one of the most consistently enjoyable metal albums yet released in 2022. Can’t recommend enough. The tone is silly, but the talent is no joke. 
(5 / 5)
