Band:	Waste Of Space Orchestra
Album:	Syntheosis
Style:	Psychedelic black metal, Psychedelic doom metal
Release date:	April 05, 2019
A review by:	Auntie Sahar

01. Void Monolith
02. The Shamanic Vision
03. Seeker's Reflection
04. Journey To The Center Of Mass
05. Wake Up The Possessor
06. Infinite Gate Opening
07. Vacuum Head
08. The Universal Eye
09. Syntheosis

Oranssi Pazuzu and Dark Buddha Rising, Finnish masters of psychedelic metal, have collaborated in the past as Atomikylä, with fairly impressive results. But Waste Of Space Orchestra? This is something entirely different. Something truly special.

The story behind Waste Of Space Orchestra is pretty straightforward. At last year's Roadburn Festival, Oranssi Pazuzu and Dark Buddha Rising were brought in to do a joint, one off set written specifically for the festival, under the "Waste Of Space Orchestra" moniker and featuring all 10 members from both bands. As fate would have it, however, that performance was destined to not be confined merely to that one event. Popular demand coupled with the warm reception to it from the Oranssi and DBR guys has resulted in the Waste Of Space Orchestra experience being committed permanently to record, a process that has yielded the colossal Syntheosis about a year after the original Roadburn performance.

If you're a fan of Oranssi Pazuzu and/or Dark Buddha Rising, or have listened to any Atomikylä, you would probably go into Syntheosis with a reasonable idea of what to expect, but even then, the full experience would probably surpass this idea entirely. With Waste Of Space Orchestra these two bands have merged on a much grander scale and with far more cohesive results than ever before. The music here could most probably be dubbed as psychedelic doom metal, but there is a hearty dose of Oranssi Pazuzu's black metal presence in the mix as well, and this element is thankfully not as drowned out by the DBR-esque doom mantras as it was with Atomikylä. The "Orchestra" in the band name is pleasantly not unfitting either, as several moments throughout Syntheosis (particularly through the use of organ) do indeed conjure a sort of symphonic, orchestral vibe, albeit an extremely trippy one.

While all of the various aspects of the music on Syntheosis draw and deserve attention in their own right, if there's any shining star of this show, it is most definitely Marko Neuman, who has been tasked with vocal responsibility for the album and is without question the commander of this off kilter, delirious space ship. This guy is relatively new, having become Dark Buddha Rising's new front man in 2015, but to say that he's a powerhouse performer would be an understatement. At the helm of Waste Of Space Orchestra, Neuman's wide vocal range is more than suitable for the various shifts in the musical delivery, varying between chanting, a more conventional, melodious delivery, as well as ferocious shrieks during the aggressive moments that are more embracing of Oranssi Pazuzu's black metal personality. He's the icing on the cake here, truly.

Finnish metal has long been building a well deserved reputation for surrealistic darkness and ritualistic experimentation among its bands, but I believe it's quite clear now, if it wasn't already, that Oranssi Pazuzu and Dark Buddha Rising are the unmatched kings of this trend, at least in contemporary history. Their combined efforts as Waste Of Space Orchestra have yielded an album that has quite honestly exceeded my expectations for it, and that has likely transcended the limitations of both bands operating solely on their own.

The Psychedelic Warlords have triumphed yet again. Catch this effort from them now, before they disappear in smoke once more.