Yeah, yeah. Hi, everyone. [Click]thony [Click]tano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Oranssi Pazuzu record, Muuntautuja.

I can't speak Finnish. Oh, my God. Yeah.

This, I believe, is the sixth full-length LP from Finnish metal outfit, Oranssi Pazuzu. For over a decade now, the band has been building a discography that has become more and more difficult to define. You who could argue they stood out from the start when they were first making waves in 2009, with a debut that combined elements of black metal and psychedelic rock, along with some mid-century sci-fi aesthetics. And the band has only gone on to embrace more avant-garde and experimental metal fusions since then. And while the band may not always come through with some of my favorite metal records of all time, they're always conjuring an interesting mix of sounds that most definitely sounds like it's on the verge of something.

This is also made clear through the title of this record, which is in reference to the idea of variation and transformation. If the eight tracks on this record provide anything, it's most certainly that, with a mix of black metal guitars, post-metal builds, harsh noise, trippy effects, ambient keys, and industrial bass and beats, which is pretty much the opening track on this record to a tee. The low-end frequencies on this track are roaring, the snares pop off like glock shots, and there also sounds like there might be hammer dulcimer in the mix, too. Just some very plucky, metallic tones. And all these elements together already create a pretty crushing sound that somehow gets even louder and more obliterating once the guitar has fully come in.

The band's really firing on all cylinders right at the start of this LP with one of the most massive walls of auditory mayhem they've ever made. And what's also miraculous about this track is just how tense and rigid the assembly is, but simultaneously, it still sounds raw. I can hear very clearly that the music here is being assembled and mixed very carefully in a multi-track, but simultaneously, there's still a visceral punch to it. I also love the way the band treated the vocals on this track, too. They just sound massive and wide and enveloping. I feel like I'm being screamed at by a demon that's 50 stories tall, and I'm just melting under its fire breath.

So yeah, just a killer start to the record, which goes into the title track that goes in more of a chill and electronic direction. In fact, the bass and looped synths and beats on this song have almost a trip hop flair to them. And with the tremolo and robot sound effects on the vocals fronting the song, the band is clearly back on their sci-fi shit once again, which is not a bad direction for things to move in, considering how the production is coming together. But yeah, ultimately this track makes me feel like I'm listening to the musical rituals of an android cult, which comes to an amazing crescendo with revving bass, dissonant guitars, and all kinds of glitchy synthetic insanity that I can't even begin to untangle. The band really could be doing sound design for horror films off of this type of stuff.

The following "Voitelu" really makes me appreciate the flow of the record that much more as the band goes fully back into rock mode with this furious driving piece of psych with ultra-distorted guitars. The whole thing sounds like a metallic acid trip with just a hint of late-era Swans coming through on some of the instrumentation as well. There's a pretty odd mix of sounds to follow from here, not all of which are super cleanly blended in, which I think may be intentional given just how careful a lot of the mixing and production has been thus far, like this industrial beat breakdown as well as these glistening keys that are just so goddamn loud. But these keys actually match the volume of the song's very crushing finish to follow from here, so it is an effective setup. Laced into the mix here are these throaty vocal chants that make me feel more like I'm being sacrificed at the altar of a robot Beelzebub.

The following cut in the tracklist provides another cool down moment of sorts. More beats, more eerie guitars, more electronics that feel even more like they are indebted to the trip hop genre, with maybe even tinges of Kid A-era Radiohead, too, but brought to a much eerier conclusion. And while I do like the sonic palate this song offers, I feel like the breathy lead vocals as well as the synth string progressions are a little tedious to listen to. Definitely not one of the record's strokes of musical genius, I'll say that, even if the volume dynamics are most certainly there.

Following this, we have an interlude, and then what I felt was the best single on the record, "Valotus", which roughly translates to "exposure," I believe. This track undergoes one of the most intense evolutions of any song on the entire record. We have a dystopian ambient soundscape that eventually gives way to throbbing beats and buzzing bass. Then a total explosion of noise, black metal fury, with blast beats and a wall of sound so abrasive, it sounds like live power lines smacking against 30-inch crash cymbal. It somehow gets even more excruciating from here because in the final leg of the song, it's just a total sonic assault, with pitchy dissonant tones screaming over the harshest distortion you can imagine, pounding drums too, and vocals that are so heavily manipulated, they sound like a robot malfunctioning. The whole thing finishes with this single ringing tone, which frankly is fucked up because it literally sounds like a tinnitus ring, which you might hear in your head after you've not worn earplugs at a really loud show, something like that. There's definitely an awareness on the band's part of the potential auditory damage they're doing here, so beware of blasting this one too loud.

Following this, we have what is the longest track on the record, which has a very promising start. A great build-up, too. However, maybe not the finish I was hoping for. First off, the Swans influences I was hearing just whiffs of earlier on the record are most definitely confirmed here with this ominous swirl of odd grooves and entrancing bass, as well as bellowing lead vocals that feel like something lifted straight out of the To Be Kind or The Seer playbook, but with heavier guitar passages to follow that take on more fuzz and distortion and give more of a metal feel, generally, with, of course, some more horror movie soundtrack, mayhem, mixed in. The whole sound and vibe are familiar, but the progression is satisfying all the same. Not to mention the climactic peak of the track that hits with a lot of great layers and tension and apocalyptic rips.

The closing track is the only moment on the record that I felt majorly let down by. It's this five-minute, minimal, ambient synth piece that is relatively eerie while it's on, but it doesn't have a super strong or impactful progression to it. While I can appreciate a subtle finish, I don't feel like the storm brought on by the previous track was enough to justify such a long and spacey cool down, especially considering the last few minutes of the previous song was spent giving us this weird little UFO synth odyssey. To be hit with a five-minute track after that that finishes things with more of a whimper than a bang, I don't know, it's just like a disappointing rug pull of sorts, I guess.

Unfortunately, the record itself is not that long, which is not a bad thing. I don't mind hearing an album with a tight run time these days. But I feel like if that's going to be the case, it is just essential that if you're going to nail the start, you need to nail the ending, too.

With that being said, though, the vast majority of the tracks on this album, especially toward the front-end, are fantastic. They're intense, they're creative, they're groovy, they're textured, and also make for some of the most unique metal and loud rock I've heard this year. Yeah, I just wish the entire album was as thrilling throughout, really, as there are a handful of moments that begin to lull once we move past the first leg. Again, the ending is just really not that interesting.

With all of that being said, though, Oranssi Pazuzu continues to be one of the most interesting bands out there in black metal and beyond, and I'm very solidly feeling a light to decent 7 on this LP.

Anthony Fantano. Oranssi Pazuzu. Forever.