Everyone has a taste for the strange, the offbeat, the eltdritch, at least to some degree. With me, the inclination towards the weird might be a notch higher then the average. I love all kinds of Metal: melodic and extreme, old and new, but I particularly like bands that are somewhat outré. FLEURETY, VED BUENS ENDE, BERGRAVEN, SIGH, VIRUS, SOLEFALD - I just eat that stuff up. One band that satisfies my craving for this type of music is the Finnish outfit ORANSSI PAZUZU named after a Babylonian protective spirt (Pazuzu was not, contrary to popular belief, an evil demon, he just looks scary). They've been on my radar for many years and I'm quite familiar with their oeuvre.

The Tampere five piece's music is described as "Psychedelic Black Metal", and this label does apply to some extent. The raspy, venomous vocals, certainly sound Black Metal, as is the dark, dense atmosphere. On the other hand, there are no blast beats or tremolo picked guitars, instead we have fuzzy riffs and backbeat rhythms. The music is "psychedelic" more in the sense of being "trippy" then inspired by 70s Psych Rock, although some of the riffs have a bit of that Classic Rock drive. ORANSSI PAZUZU's sound is minimalist and dense, the insistent grooves and looping synth lines give it a hypnotic quality.

There are sections with driving riffs, but often times the synths are in the forefront. The music tends to be textural, there are many Electronica or Ambient influenced moments like the intro of "Oikeamielisten" with its programmed drums and looping, pitch-shifted synth riff, or the second half of "Kuulen ääniä maan alta", which is straight-forward Electronica and even features sub-bass synths. But when the music is heavy, it is heavy: before going all full-on EDM "Kuulen ääniä maan alta" has a heavy, Industrial sounding middle section in which the singer gives a super visceral vocal performance. The rousing synth jamming in "Oikeamielisten's" finale is preceded by an abrasive, shrill, almost Black Metal sounding section.

The album has a nice flow and goes through different mood changes, the longest track "Uusi teknokratia" is in the middle the rest of the songs are middle-length (-ish). The album closes with a offbeat and disquieting "Taivaan portti", where synths and the vocalist's shrieks are layered over a blasting drumbeat (I don't know in what kind of time signature it is, but it's not something that belongs into "normal music") and a pulsating, repetitive riff (if it can be considered a riff). It's almost trans inducing and a neat way to close the album. ORANSSI PAZUZU's music isn't very subtle, sometimes the songs can feel a bit disjointed, or some of the abrupt transitions can feel forced (but not necessarily), but what the musics lack in subtlety it makes up in emotional impact.
This album continues a series of great releases by this band and I highly recommend it to fans of the band and lovers of unconventional music. Like a real psychedelic experience it's a bewildering head trip that will leave you dazed but innerly enriched.