Photo by: M. Lahtinen
Official press release:
Finnish acts — cosmic black metal alchemists Oranssi Pazuzu and their cohorts Dark Buddha Rising, known for their grandiose, slug-paced, ritualist doom metal — have recorded a new album,Syntheosis, set for release on Svart Records this April under the moniker Waste Of Space Orchestra.
Syntheosis began as a commissioned piece for the 2018 edition of Roadburn. The fest, which began as a small-scale gathering of stoner rock addicts has evolved over the years into a four-day celebration of heavy music in all of its possible forms and interpretations, from riff-worship to punishing soundscapes and beyond. The list of Roadburn performers over the years is a veritable who’s who of underground heavy culture, with everyone from Neurosis and Sleep to Godflesh having performed at the event.
Waste Of Space Orchestra’s Syntheosis was prepared at the request of the festival and performed there in April of last year in front of over three-thousand people. Syntheosis the album is not a live recording but a carefully prepared studio interpretation on which the ten musicians worked over the spring and summer of 2018. The offering was recorded and mixed by Julius Mauranen, who also worked on Oranssi Pazuzu’s Värähtelijä. The album can be digested as a challenging, engaging psych metal record or as a dimension-spanning, one-hour performance consisting of nine parts. The work recounts a story of three beings and their deep search for knowledge:
The Shaman (Vesa Ajomo) is seeing oppressing visions from the bleak future of mankind.
The Seeker (Juho Vanhanen) is searching for the truth from unknown dimensions with secret methods.
The Possessor (Marko Neuman) corrupts the other individuals, manipulating them into his own sinister plan.
A ceremony ends up in the opening of a portal, which sucks the three beings into an alien dimension, which is populated by brain-mutilating color storms and ego-diminishing audio violence. Eventually the three are forced to reach equilibrium and melt their minds into one collective consciousness.
Svart Records will release Syntheosis worldwide on CD, double LP, and digital formats on April 5th.. For pre-orders, go to Svart’s webstore. View the band’s previously-released album trailer below:
Syntheosis Track Listing:
- “Void Monolith”
- “The Shamanic Vision”
- “Seeker’s Reflection”
- “Journey To The Center Of Mass”
- “Wake Up The Possessor”
- “Infinite Gate Opening”
- “Vacuum Head”
- “The Universal Eye”
- “Syntheosis”
Waste Of Space Orchestra is:
Vesa Ajomo – voice of the shaman, guitar
Toni Hietamäki – bass guitar
Niko Lehdontie – guitar, effects
Ville Leppilahti – keyboards, effects
Marko Neuman – voice of the possessor
Jukka Rämänen – drums
Petri Rämänen – deep bass guitar
Jussi Saarivuori – electronics
Jarkko Salo – drums
Juho Vanhanen – voice of the seeker, guitar