Oranssi Pazuzu – Muuntautuja
Release Date: 11th October 2024
Label: Nuclear Blast
Bandcamp
Genre: Avant-Garde Black Metal
FFO: Imperial Triumphant, Sólstafir, Krallice.
Review By: Jeff Finch
Blackened Jazz: the first thing that came to mind after finishing this newest one from Finnish enigma, Oranssi Pazuzu. Combining the harrowing atmosphere of black metal with the schizoid beats of a jazz band, the group manages to do something that’s quite difficult in music today: stand out based on their actual songs and talent, not some external infamy. With this, their newest album Muuntautuja, the band continues to make their mark on the world, one confused metal head expression at a time.
As a fan of black metal, to hear the compositions that the band creates is really a treat, because a great many of the hallmarks are there; the atmosphere, the shrieks, the chaos, but Oranssi Pazuzu wraps it in multiple layers of different styles simultaneously, unleashing bedlam on its expectant listeners, likely confusing any newbies. Opener Bioalkemisti opens with strumming that sounds so much like a midi file I had to stare blankly at the screen, thinking it could be a banjo I’m hearing, I have no idea. To congratulate me on my confusion, a wall of thick bass joins the room, guitars drenched in fuzz, black metal shrieks layered to yield intense malevolence, musically the band all over the place now as a guitar solo randomly finds its way in, taking a wrong turn and somehow ending up in this song, exactly how it feels with the vocals; they shouldn’t work with the chaotic restraint of the beats and the groove, but somehow, as always, they do. Random bursts of fury take hold, so much distortion and pumped up noise you almost miss the jazz saxophone quality to the guitars, all this with a wall of bass just beyond the sonic veil, keeping everything in check.
Voitelu, apart from having one of the easier spellings of the tracks, continues the theme of distortion and layering; what starts with a middle eastern flair quickly shifts gear into oppressive distortion, the several layers of vocals warning of danger rising from the depths, a giant wall of sound that transitions smoothly into black metal shouts, piano cutting through the chaos, turned up in the mix so we don’t miss it among the depravity. Words and noises mashed together emerge from a wall of TV static, the dissonant melodies cacophonous, yet satisfying; they’re a mess taken at face value, if individually extracted, but the exhausting, claustrophobic soundscape they create is simply crushing, listeners suffocating in the static by the end of the track. Hautatuuli, on the other hand, starts with a catchy little drum beat and a consistently thick bass line; the song gives filler vibes, as if to ease our ears a bit, give us something not abrasive, not loud, a bit of soothing for our psyche after the first three songs. Before long, the song reveals itself, the vocals whispered echoes in a different language, the beat unchanging while the bass reaches an apex as the song shifts into dramatic synths, reminiscent of an orchestra, part of a wall of noise overtaken by harsh vocals, while that same beat keeps on rolling, still there under the maelstrom, the song closing out on whispered vocals.
What makes the album so captivating, in addition to everything listed so far, is the tension created in these individual soundtracks; artificially soaked vocals shift to harrowing, borderline uncomfortable high notes from the guitar, the crescendo of a horror movie climax, in the title track, while Valotus features a slow, purposeful build-up, sinister and atmospheric, punctuated by the bass that fades in, drums bringing utter bedlam to contrast with layered, echoed growls. When the distortion drops and piano breaks through, it’s so out there yet so captivating, the undercurrent of nightmarish tone fueling the raging fire. Beautiful piano abounds while pained shrieks introduce a thunderous wall of noise, so much distortion it’s as if an explosive has gone off, robotic vocals breaking through your speakers that seem to have blown out, as suddenly it just stops, one long beep remaining, akin to a hospital alarm at a higher pitch.
Almost ten minutes in length, Ikikäärme begins unassumingly, piano subtle yet soothing, bass emanating in and out like an alien craft, a quiet but off tempo drum beat working in tandem with each bass line, trapping us in the opening of a horror film, replete with chanting, eerie plucked strings, random crescendos, and growling beasts, but as heard from within a membrane, the noise recognizable but also warped, clean guitars providing a bit of melody while also ratcheting up the anxiety, the band finally bursting through with fuzzy riffs, black metal wails, a proper jazz beat with these drums and piano strikes, one strike every second, programmatically altered vocals, almost like talking, overpowering the mix; we spectators rendered unnerved, as we can’t understand anything, the last 45 seconds pure silence, leaving us alone to digest the previous 9 minutes. Vierivä usva acts as a final parting gift, continuing the contemplative moments of the previous track; music not overblown or loud yet unsettling, synths oscillating over and over, the entirety of the song simply an exercise in taking a breath, the final scene to a movie, the credits, as it were, where listeners can now absorb everything they’ve just heard.
And so it is that Oranssi Pazuzu, with their newest work, continues to captivate audiences and inspire them to keep an open mind about music; the band combines so many soundscapes over the course of just seven tracks, avant-garde black metal jazz fusion or whatever you want to call it, that there’s too much to digest after just one listen, maybe even two or three listens. The band takes a genre known for unrepentant aggression and speed and flips it on its head, keeping some of the traits and discarding the rest, looking to other genres for the remainder of their inspiration. This isn’t a band that’s easy to get into, but it’s a band that continues to reward listeners anytime they hit play.
(4.5 / 5)
