Oranssi Pazuzu played Cambridge – 10/14

Finnish psych-metal warriors Oranssi Pazuzu made a long-awaited Massachusetts appearance last week with support from Insect Ark and Fuligin.

One of the major disappointments of an otherwise-great time at August’s Psycho Las Vegas was the last-minute cancellation of Finland’s Oranssi Pazuzu, who were left with no choice in the matter due to visa issues. Thankfully, they’ve since managed to sort all that in time for some autumn North American dates, and while last Monday’s club date didn’t quite live up to the surreal promise of seeing the band perform in a Mandalay Bay wave pool, it was a thrill to finally catch them nonetheless.

2016’s Värähtelijä – Pazuzu’s fourth and most-recent full-length – remains among the most purely thrilling metal LPs in recent memory; an unholy fusion of hammer-down black metal savagery with an interstellar psychedelic bent that sounds like little else presently out there. And given that Psycho cancellation and the general scarcity of the group’s stateside shows (they’d played only a handful prior to this year), anticipation for music fans of a certain persuasion (i.e. me) was high.

On stage, the five-piece lived up to all the hype surrounding their live sets, translating their dense, winding songs into massive sonic trips bolstered by the showman’s flair of singer-guitarist Jun-His and a disorienting, colorful light show. The end results were appropriately mind-bending and well worth the wait.

Check out photos of Pazuzu alongside heavy instrumental duo Insect Ark and local black/death metal crew Fuligin (who sounded killer at their first-ever show) below.