Oranssi Pazuzu, "Mestarin Kynsi" (Nuclear Blast)
This band makes you feel like you're tripping, even if you're not, and you should be, so Oranssi Pazuzu qualifies as an essential service.
So many swell things about the group. First, it comes from Finland, the world's coolest country. Second, Oranssi means orange, "the color of cosmic energy," not to mention being a classic brand of amplifier favored by stoners; and Pazuzu is the Assyrian wind demon associated with John Boorman's wonderfully horrible "Exorcist II: The Heretic," so every time you think of the name, you get to flash on a long-suffering Richard Burton, in his umpteenth recapitulation of a Fallen Man of God, intoning "I summon thee, Pazuzu" before he runs screaming off the set and sucks down a gallon of Glenfiddich.
Third, Oranssi Pazuzu doesn't give a shit about licking American balls, so all the shrieked and gurgled words (if you could decipher them anyway) are in Finnish, rendering the worst aspect of most metal bands moot. Fourth, these filthy longhairs don't give a shit whether you think they're "brutal" or not; they sound more than anything like early Pink Floyd, the main differences being that they're way heavier and that they actually seemed to know, from their 2007 start, what they were doing. Now imagine them selling a lot of records and becoming boring social commentators like post-'72 Floyd -- it won't matter, because as long as they don't learn English, we still won't be able to understand the self-righteous moaning! (Get thee behind me, Babbel and Rosetta Stone.)
Oh yeah, the music. All of it is spectacular, especially this new record.
Oranssi Pazuzu are masters of dynamics. Most of the songs on "Mestarin Kynsi" start simple and loud, then add layers and get louder. The sound feels chaotic at first thanks to the rich textures and liberal use of reverb, especially from keyboardist Evil, but we quickly discern that drummer Korjak has a cunning way with syncopation that belies the basic thud. It's a mystery how O.P. comes up with its weirdly interlocking arrangements -- the magic isn't random or studio-dependent, as the group's strong live recordings reveal.
Highlights here are hard to pick, but try the 10-minute roller coaster "Uusi Teknokratia," with its noise loops, tumbling drums, synth twitters and quiet female vocal complaints, and "Kuulen Ääniä Maan Alta," with its backward intro and bunga-bunga disco beat. Noisy doesn't necessarily imply low-tech; the band's partnership with co-producer Julius Mauranen has matured to generate a studio field of considerable detail and stereophonic sophistication.
In some ways, Oranssi Pazuzu is better than acid: If you get tired, you can just stop.
Check it here.
The Black Dahlia Murder, "Verminous" (Metal Blade)
Nine albums in, TBDM can still make rats on meth seem lazy. Good thing the Michigan deathsters threw in the ethereal synth intro to the tangly "Sunless Empire," the brief Renaissance acoustic pluck of "A Womb in Dark Chrysalis" and the trickling/skittering crypt sounds that begin and end the onslaught. Otherwise Alan Cassidy's rattlehead drums are always pitting your face, and guitarist Brandon Ellis' overachieving classical-metal solos come at you one after another like ranks of high-tech infantry. Even lead screamer Trevor Strnad lovingly describes the production as anal-retentive, but that's no deficit for the fans, who demand a pent-up energy that matches their own. Liberating?