Year: 2024
Total Time: 43:05
Label: Nuclear Blast

I had the feeling that with “Mestarin Kinsy” of 2021 ORANSSI PAZUUZU would have reached the limits of the known to us black metal universe and that they would make a turn back to more “traditional” extreme forms. But “Muuntautuja” like another Voyager spaceship left to explore the uncharted a groundbreaking approach and fuel by the inexhaustible inspiration.

The Bioalchemist sees with eyes deep into the darkness. The mirror of eternity separates the light. He took it from the blood, he communes it, it disappears in ecstasy, and yet the mantra is there. I will do it again. Swear. But to one person. New life. Development. Transfiguration in the cave, cold hands intertwine the decaying bodies. The introduction of the record is smooth, sufficiently stellar stepping on a noise rock platform west of the Atlantic gradually bringing us into the style and meaning.

The polymorphic, he who is constantly changing forms and shapes. He who lives in the parallel world between the universes of Elrik of Melnibone, the guardian of the Threnody and the Storm. I remember you, your stinky face, rolling down the stinky corridor. Your body doesn’t live, you do, I say it again. I will lift you to the clouds of no return, where the particles dance with the atoms in the relentless storm. Under the pressure of the stars I will drown you in darkness, your skull will be exposed to nothingness. An escalating menace that reaches a climax, a march from analog to cosmic horror and tumbleweed with several minimalist influences from the 60s and 70s and in particular Philip Glass and Terry Riley.

Grease the palm. Not the taxman. The eternal baptist, the singer of the Flame, the ruler of the Storm. Bring the cup to your lips, feel the cold blood on your tongue. “Ion Storm” is present in every aspect, in every detail giving this toy element. You need to get rid of the everyday. A Gate opens to the unknown, a bright Gate to silence. Ready, I put on the mask of Calm, at the Gate of Silence. With trembling hand I push something alive, explosion in my fingers. Industrial noises, targeting the fear neuron, the looming shadow of death and the pause.

The cold icy wind. The gate behind which is a tomb, beneath it only darkness. An alien force pushes me to the edge of the chasm, the sky shatters, the icy wind hits me on the back. Behind someone, at someone’s base, in the middle of everything. The ULVERish approach with the repetitive loop makes the track a bit more digestible while remaining menacing enough and more suited to the Jester Records sound.

Exposure, exposure of ideas, exposure to the light. The child of the sun is drowning in the light, the child of the sun is drowning, yes, the light is penetrating him through and through. The stars burn the skin, leaving scars. His hands begin to shake, instinct now guiding the blade of steel. Little cuts through the eyes, little cuts through the heart. The bright horizon opens again, the summer night begins and vibrates. Enter the stillness of the night, enter the vertiginous chasm of immensity. The bright fingers of the night penetrate, it stings to look at the night. The night is coming, the night won’t let go, relax, let it go. The most Black Metal moment of the record, a wander into the bowels of the Earth through a network of galleries feeling the heat emitted by the almost molten rocks literally peel you off.

The ancient serpent. Ignorant, numb does not languish, only feeds itself. A mistake in an infinite time. I enter the cave of fire, I follow the lava flows, flashbacks, the lava flows follow me. In the corridor of eternity the serpent swallows, the tunnel leads to a shining hollow. I stick to the walls, melt to the bone, the lava rises, covers me. I’ll never be alone again. The memories dissolved into thin air, only the flakes of the thought path remained. The light went out, my tongue dried up, I became a huge skin, wrapped up. And everything around is so cool and slippery. With the layering of sounds you get the feeling that you have escaped from the dark, only to find yourself surrounded by demons. The truth is that it takes a little longer than it should, the creeping layers are slow developing, the arpeggios and the piano playing (the 666 International) has finally done a lot of “damage”.

I loved “Mestarin Kynsi” with its kraut rock references, back then times were also difficult. You will tell me, correctly of course, when they were easy. ORANSSI PAZUZU with “Muuntautuja” left for other unexplored destinations, the fact that it is released under the auspices of Nuclear Blast makes it accessible to a wider audience that is not able to evaluate it positively. And what did they care? The exercise of expressionist aesthetics, the declaration of de-embalming from the pile and the solidification of mortality for everyone and everything make “Muuntautujia” a landmark in extreme sound and its offshoots. I don’t know if this manifesto can be rated, however, for the extreme of the thing, the rating is…

Rating: 8/10
Editor: Dimos Karadimos
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