I reckon that Svart have a secret chemical lab somewhere and keep manufacturing strange strains of LSD and feeding them to hermits in the Finnish woodlands, bunging them a few instruments, recording the results and then releasing on an unsuspecting public who seem to be lapping them up. Actually dropping something called an Orange Pazuzu could have some interesting results in itself but we would not advocate such practices so best not go there. These fiendishly fine folk have recorded a couple of albums prior to this one along with a split with the deliciously sounding Candy Cane. They are new to me despite the fact their 2011 album Kosmonument came out via Spinefarm but I am guessing did not get promoted on British shores via the label.
Make no mistake this band are designed to take you on a trip and it is no surprise to discover that it is a bit of an astral one, charting the far flung reaches of the solar system. However that is not all you get here and as the psychic waves and doom laden riffs of opener ‘Vino Verso’ open the senses, attention is shortly drawn to the rasps of vocalist Jun-His whose indelible stamp it would seem has had comparisons with black metal drawn upon this lot. The song is a guitar heavy plodder with some eerie synth work underlying the grooves and rasps. It draws you in at under 5 minutes long gives you an idea what a short experiment with this lot is like. Of course coming later there are some monolithic numbers that are much more epic in scope. Uraanisula is the first of these and hits the 12 minute mark taking us in with some quiet fragile acoustic guitar and certainly making me aware that we are shortly about to go off ‘In Search Of Space.’ Thick leaden grooves are laid down to pave the way and a futuristic sounding melody weaves its way out. Those throaty growls however add a danger to things, in this realm nobody can hear you scream; something with claws and possibly acid saliva is stalking here. Things loop around and strange keyboard noises start to pervade as we go into more space rock territories. There is a strong sense of experimentation here and this no doubt would appeal to fans of early cosmonauts Amon Düül as riffs go into free fall and suddenly lurch into a heavy, heady sonic plateau. This is certainly no Floydian trip though don’t go into it thinking you are going to float off Orb like. The Sonic Attack is at times quite alarming!
Slow trance like ambient passages that are thankfully not overlong and have strange Finnish names follow before a rough guitar sound and those vocals come back in making you wonder how you can have suddenly gone in one violent move from something akin to Hawkwind to Taake? Somehow though it works brilliantly. It is left to the last ¼ of an hour track ‘Ympyrä on viiva tomussa’ (my mind translates this to Planet Of The Vampires for some reason) to attempt to sort the mess of your head out. ‘The Circle Is A Line In The Dust as this apparently means is much more esoteric than my imagination but still it has a trippy ponderous start which really allows you to expand your thoughts. It’s a slow burner and slow builder but as it gains gravity to suddenly explode into a pretty colossal sunburst of sound you know you have arrived at the full potential of the band. This must be pretty great live and I guess the band have been dragged out to play the likes of Roadburn in the past or will be in the future. They musically project a kaleidoscope of sounds here and the power of the psychedelic hues bristles with the underlying dark and blackness in ways not oft heard before.
I guess like when something is too metal for the punks and too punk for the metallers Oranassi Pazuzu have taken a bit of a chance melding two styles together. I can’t speak for everyone loving both of them but it works for me and I found the album an illuminating voyage and one well worth buckling up for and taking in the sights and sounds!
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply