ORANSSI PAZUZU CONTINUE WARPING ALIEN SOUNDS ON MIND-MELTING ‘MESTARIN KYNSI’
We’ve all had those transformative live experiences when we see a band and somehow leave our bodies and enter into an experience that’s much deeper than just seeing artists perform songs from their catalog. I remember the first time seeing Neurosis and somehow starting on one end of the crowd and ending up on the other with no realization I had even moved. I was sober.
I had one of those this past October when I went to Detroit to see psyche black metal explorers Oranssi Pazuzu in a building that, at first glance, seemed far too small for their sound. Maybe it even was, but when they opened up and started playing, everything changed, and I was instantly pulled into their performance and not let go until 90 minutes later. I’d have already been excited for the band’s new fifth full-length “Mestarin Kynsi,” but witnessing them in their element catapulted their importance to me. I had no idea when I dug into these six songs that I’d be taking an adventure with them I couldn’t have anticipated. Their penchant for krautrock-fueled black metal remains intact, but their further tunneling into thick electronics and electrifying hypnosis makes this record one that can both numb your mind and devastate your body and soul through and through. The band—vocalist/guitarist Jun-His, guitarists Ikon and Moit, bassist Ontto, synth/organ/effects wizard Evill, drummer Korjak—explores and expands over 50 minutes that’ll feel like they fly by in half of that as they run roughshod over your brain.