Here it is, number 68 on the Quietus’ Best Albums Of The Year So Far list! It’s Finland’s very own Oranssi Pazuza, with their fourth album, Värähtelijä!
A lot of the reviews of this record mention black metal at some point, which alongside all those umlauts and the silly band name (“Orange Demon”) might well be enough to put off cautious listeners. Relax, I am here to reassure you all. There is nary a blastbeat to be heard, and not much wild tremolo. Granted, the vocals are a bit growly, but compared to the ferociously dense attack of a Mayhem or a Darkthrone this is a record full of space and room to breathe. Nothing to frighten the horses, in other words, and it’s certainly not as aggressive or alienating as (minority) AW favourites Deafheaven.
That said, it is definitely metal, but it’s metal with a psychedelic space rock, even krautrock bent. Basslines wobble all over the place, synths sound alternately like an outtake from 2001 or Deep Purple, while guitars chime, roar or just sparkle in the void. Oranssi Pazazu just seem to be chucking whatever they feel like into the mix but it works and hangs together, even the bits that make me think of an angry Pink Floyd. The title track sounds like Harmonia covering Planet Caravan, and elsewhere there are vibraphones nestling up to tribal drumming and cookie monster vocals. It’s an extreme melange of sound and influence, weird in the best sense of the word, slightly disorientating, a little unearthly.
I’ll be honest, there’s nothing here for the blues rock or classic pop aficionados amongst us, but I do think the fraternity that likes Mogwai or Explosions In The Sky could get something out of this if they approach with open ears. Hell, there’s even an eighteen minute track with changing time signatures for the proggers (and what a belter it is, opening with the most black metal section of the record, moving into a five minute ambient interlude of glistening guitars and stewed bass that recalls electric Miles Davis before building back again to something that approximates the sound of a star swelling and bursting in a supernova).
I really like this record. It does what the best music should, lift you out of quotidian existence and show you a world that is utterly different. Not sure I’d like to live there, but it’s a great place to visit.
that title track
[bandcamp width=350 height=470 album=3024761501 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false track=2318319356]
or not.
Värähtelijä by Oranssi Pazuzu
*sigh* the live version off YouTube it is then
I wondered whether honey monster vocals were, um, honey monster vocals……
Indeed they are.
It’s a no from me.
Thanks for starting this all off. No wish whatsoever to listen to Whatevertheyarecalled but lovely review, lovely.
Seconded. It’s the quality of your review that’s impressive, not the quality of the Quietus List.
Extremely enjoyable review that makes me think that maybe I should venture outside my comfort zone and give them a try. I do have a great weakness for Finnish bands.
Strangely enough, I was talking about Metal with a friend this evening. His 22 year old son is a metalhead and has tried to convert him. He said that there is far too much going on for him in the newish bands that he has given a listen to.
I have a more prosaic question.
How does one do all that dot stuff with the letters?
Cöpy and päste
What ? Copy each letter – surely you are the p Mr P.
No, whole words, like so: Yhtyeen nimessä oranssi viittaa kosmiseen energiaan sekä alkuräjähdyksen ensimmäisten valonsäteiden väriin…
Easy for me to say that, i know.
that was meant to read “taking the p”
I’m sure there is a “proper” way.
On a mac JW, you do the following –
Use the Option key. Hold down option and push ‘s’ to get ß. For the umlauted characters, hold down option and push ‘u’. Release option, then type the desired base letter (a, o, u, A, O, or U). The umlaut will appear over the letter you typed. (So to type ü, you should hold down option, press u, then release option and press u again.)
Viel glück.
You lost me after ß.
Think I will adopt Thep’s cheater approach.
On my iMac I keep Character Viewer in the menu bar, select Latin and then double click to enter ĺèțṱĕȑṥ ǭḟ ḿẙ ḉħøḭĉẽ.
It also enables stuff like ® ™Ω ©℃ etc
For Windows users there’s a free program called “WinCompose” which will allow you to use sensible key combinations to type non-standard characters once installed and switched on from the system tray. A designated key then becomes your “compose” key and if you press and release it and press the required combination of keys in sequence straight after, you get your non-standard character. Provided that character is available in the font you’re using. The default for the Compose key is Right-Alt (or alt-gr) so
alt-gr e ” will give you ë
alt-gr c , will give you ç
alt-gr e ^ will give you ê
alt-gr = up arrow down arrow will give you ⇕
On my Windows laptop I google “alt codes for accents”, which takes you to lists of four digit numbers to type in whilst holding the alt key down.
On my Kindle Fire tablet I just long touch the particular letter key until the accented ones appear, then, without taking my finger off I move it to the character required before letting go. It makes typing things like Beyoncé a breezé.
Sorry about all this Kid, it’s a fantastic review.
And I was so excited to see 21 comments!
Shôw-öff, Mini!
Or you could buy a new keyboard next time you’re in Scandinavia. 🙂
Now we’ve got that sorted, let’s get back to the Finnish forests!