Well accustomed with their hypnotic breed of abrasive psychedelia, Oranssi Pazuzu still play a class act to these ears. Muuntautuja falls shy of the powerful impact such an unforgiving delve into obscurity would normally bestow. Privy to their mania, the joys of fresh madness come from moments of relief to a seemingly unceasing nausea.
This latest installment toys with an Industrial grit, felt in its stiff mechanical pace and dirtied gristly aesthetics. Each song marches into a spell, grinding the axe through mesmeric repetitions. Dense webs of darkly noise amass to paint feverish sweats of isolated lunacy, a punishing tour through the cramp canals of mental derangement.
Not every song releases the mounting pressure. Sticking firmly to gritty drones of eerie discomfort, occasional magic emerges through glistening piano melodies and emboldened baselines flashing touches of groove. Often shadowy by design, the relief is a less evil that offers respite, only to keep one swelled within its teary darkness.
Hautatuuli steps back from axe grinding intensities to spin cinematic style horror scores to a truly chilling atmosphere. Its steady brooding intensifies into a angered rumble, restraining itself in contrast to the rest of the record. A keen highlight among a steady cruelty this harrowing trip through the shadows of the mind bestows.
Muuntautuja is brilliant yet familiar. Its aesthetic entanglement, an orchestration of menacing details, plays to great strength. The rountine drone of repetitious loops relegates much of its intensity to a familiar despairing mood. A few moments among its forty plus minutes elevates its magic for brief passages. Those were its treasures.
Rating: 7/10