Album Review: Oranssi Pazuzu – Muuntautuja (Nuclear Blast)

Finnish psychedelic black metal innovators Oranssi Pazuzu are back with their brand-new album ‘Muuntautuja’ (meaning Shapeshifter). It will be released October 11th, 2024 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Oranssi Pazuzu… there’s no-one quite like them, now is there? Sure, there’s plenty of experimental rock and metal, psychedelic, weird, nonsensical, and avant-garde music out there, and plenty that combine tripper styles with the heavier side of things. Yet, there’s simply no-one that does it in the way that Oranssi Pazuzu does and no-one with the capability to be as compelling as they are.

Chances are, you’ll already have an opinion on this record, even if you’ve not heard a single sample, effect, riff, beat, or howl. Just because it’s Oranssi Pazuzu and they are guaranteed to deliver something off-beat. Which, of course, is substantially understating what this record has to offer. From the start, there’s an overpowering sense of madness as Bioalkemisti arrives in jarring fashion. Oranssi Pazuzu have developed their palette though, and it’s on this track, with its chaotic nature and all, that they showcase even more adventurous elements.

With this monstrous listen and the expansiveness of the following Muuntautuja, you can easily discern that there are elements of trip-hop, post-rock, and innovative electronica layered in and around their blackened intensity. It is, of course, as insane as it sounds.

One word (of many) that constantly comes to mind when describing this album is ‘bold’ and while that might seem par for the course with this band, they still push the bar for their daring ways to even greater heights. Especially when something as ground-breaking as the tension that comes from the ‘heavy beauty twisted by horror’ that is Voitelu and something as ethereal, monotone, and dark as Hautatuuli comes along. A hallucinatory experience that leaves a long-lasting effect on the psyche, it’s at this stage that the full scope of Oranssi Pazuzu creativity on this album is fully unveiled, like nerve endings freshly exposed.

By contrast, Valotus almost seems tame, but once again, Oranssi Pazuzu delve into their never-ending bag of tricks to produce something that can be simply summed up as the sound of psychedelic savagery. Or maybe that should be psychological savagery. Both work as exaggerated descriptions that most wouldn’t apply to actual music, until they hear this.

Then, along comes Ikikäärme and any notion of this album becoming less intense, less bizarre, less whimsical, and less captivating in the latter portion is well and truly dismissed here. Not only is this track the longest, by some margin, but it’s also the most violently erratic. Meaning there’s something almost comforting about the finale of Vierivä usva dark tones and sinister ambience. It’s a haunting outro that feels more cinematic than anything else on the album, and proves to be the perfect way to ‘ease’ the listener out.

Whatever limit you think exists, Oranssi Pazuzu find a way to go beyond it. An album that can be summed up as madness and brilliance in equal measures, leaving a long-lasting impression as only this band can.

Oranssi Pazuzu – Muuntautuja Track Listing:

1. Bioalkemisti
2. Muuntautuja
3. Voitelu
4. Hautatuuli
5. Valotus
6. Ikikäärme
7. Vierivä usva

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