Oranssi Pazuzu

Finnish combo Oranssi Pazuzu, formed by Jun-His (vocals, guitar), Korjak (drums), Ontto (bass guitar), Moit (guitar) and Evill (keyboards), debuted with Muukalainen Puhuu (Violent Journey, 2009). The album de facto invented a new subgenre of black-metal. The growling vocals are irrelevant. The music rarely bites the way it's supposed to. Instead, it takes all sorts of detours, winking at vintage sci-fi soundtracks and other debris of sub-popular music. The split personality of Korppi merges demonic percussion that evoke blastbeat of black metal and the guitar fuzz of 1960s psychedelic rock. Danjon Nolla indulges in cheesy B-movie extraterrestrial electronic sounds.
The eight-minute Dub Kuolleen Porton Muistolle is keyboard-driven lounge exotica (the influence of B-movie soundtracks again) but the slow martial growl approaches Louis Armstrong singing a jazz song. Its coda, an acid and bluesy guitar jam, fades away leaving behind a wake of electronic noise in interstellar void: Muukalainen Puhuu. The martial hard-rock of the nine-minute Kerettilainen Vuohi implodes in a sinister drum-heavy jam that leads into an even more sinister cacophonous finale.

The fusion of black metal and space-rock on Kosmonument (Spinefarm, 2011) is sometimes trivial and cartoonish (Komeetta) but a new kind of instrumental music is emerging from the experiment: the abstract, atmospheric and mysterious Luhistuva Aikahakki; and the short sideral vignette Siirtorata 100 10100 that is basically a prelude for the longer, nine-minute long, electronic ambient exploration Infinite Symbol. The nine-minute Andromeda, unusually melodic, sounds like a Pink Floyd elegy remixed by a shoegazing band. The eight-minute Kaaos Hallitsee is a dense mix of electronic dissonance, hypnotic beat, industrial bass lines and wall of distortion. Their black-metal roots shine in the chaotic, horror walls of noise of Maavaltimo and Loputon Tuntematon. While the mood is taken from B-movie horror and sci-fi films, the music often transcends even the most childish postures and truly explores hidden corners of the mind.

Valonielu (Svart, 2013) does not hesitate to strike: it opens with the pounding miasma of Vino Verso, followed by the even more ferocious Tyhja Temppeli (ominous bass motif, ringing guitar, grating drones and tribal drumming). The boogie-paced litany of Olen Aukaissut Uuden Silman even evokes dark-punk of the late 1970s before the final deflagration. The disappointing, twelve-minute long, Uraanisula tries too hard to create suspense and melodrama, ending up being more conventional and uninspiring doom-rock. The instrumental Reika Maisemassa unfolds another slab of their sinister tribal cosmic music. The 15-minute Ympyra On Viiva Tomussa rises very slowly from a subsonic shapeless nebula via a ticking guitar until, after seven minutes, it fires the rockets and takes off. The rest is a roaring ugly evil dissonant space-rock jam that slowly fades away. While better executed, this album lacks the visceral and creative force of the first two albums. The longer pieces, in particular, don't have enough ideas to justify their duration. Nonetheless, exhausting.

Varahtelija (Svart, 2016), with new guitarist Niko Lehdontie of Kairon Irse, opens with the vehement torrential charge of the twelve-minute space-rock orgy Saturaatio with wah-wah guitar and distorted organ at galactic speed, somewhere between grotesque satanic dance and demented psychotic nightmare. The loud virulent strident black-metal peak here is Hypnotisoitu Viharukous: the rest is long or abstract pieces. Longer does not always mean better, as the eight-minute Varahtelija proves, far less interesting that the surreal percussive sci-fi vignette Lahja (the single). If the ten-minute psychodrama Havuluu is too confused and unstable, the equally long piece that closes the album, Valveavaruus is a terrifying spoken-word nightmare that ends in a surreal trot of drums and keyboards. The highlight is the 18-minute Vasemman Kaden Hierarkia that basically divides in four movements: initially a relentless steady rhythm coupled with a miasma of psychedelic guitars; then a chaotic section dominated by anthemic and funereal chants; then a black-metal frenzy with growling tortured shrieks; and finally a lengthy instrumental section dominated by percussion and dissonance. The band is unique in that their sound relies on little rhythmic imagination, fairly standard guitar noise and virtually no vocal impact, but they nonetheless creates a whole that is creative, noisy and emotional.

The EP Kevat / Varimyrsky (2017) contains the doom-infected but relatively simple Kevat and the macabre but dynamic stoner-rock of Varimyrsky, another highlight of their career. The four-song EP Farmakologinen (2017) reissues music originally recorded for a split album of 2010, including the elaborate eight-minute Unihamahakki and the quasi-hardcore of Farmakologisen Kultin Puutarhassa.

The album Mestarin Kynsi (2020) is a mixed blessing, sometimes truly inspired and sometimes simply meandering in search of the inspiration. After the tedious and pretentious Ilmestys, and after the predictable repetition and bloated synth lines of Tyhjyyden Sakramentti (9:19), the single Uusi Teknokratia (10:20) at least unleashes the energy of the band (alas, the last three minutes are just filler). Oikeamielisten Sali (8:01) does even better, progressing from a surreal opening towards a tense thundering finale. Kuulen Aania Maan Alta (7:12) boasts an explosive first half and an intriguing keyboard sound in the second half. The dense and relentless Taivaan Portti (8:06) packs seven minutes with savage drumming, guitar distortion and keyboard drones; but it doesn't do anything with the monumental tension that it builds. Nonetheless, it is probably the album's standout.

Oranssi Pazuzu fused with Dark Buddha Rising to generate Waste of Space Orchestra, a ten-person orchestra, whose album Syntheosis (2019) is a gothic rock opera, sung by three vocalists (each impersonating one of the three protagonists). The music is very dense and loud space-rock If the ten-minute Journey to the Center of Mass and the eight-minute Wake Up the Possessor are often repetitive and redundant, the 13-minute Syntheosis provides a magniloquent finale.