WASTE OF SPACE ORCHESTRA "Syntheosis"

WASTE OF SPACE ORCHESTRA

“Syntheosis”

If you’re on the prowl for weird, freaky and just plain out there shit, you may want to check out Waste of Space Orchestra. If you like your tunes straight forward and up front, you best keep walkin’, pardner, because “Syntheosis” is the opposite of that. Where do I stand? Somewhere in the middle.

It should come as no surprise that WOSO hails from Finland, well known as the home of musical weirdness. It’s composed of members from two of the more outre Finnish bands, Oranssi Pazuzu and Dark Buddha Rising. I love Oranssi’s nutzoid psychedelic black metal. Dark Buddha Rising, not so much. In many ways, WOSO does indeed sound like a perfect fusion of the two. The music here has a ton of LOUD psychedelic weirdness featuring spaced out synths...an Oranssi trademark. It also has a lot of LONG, slow building tribal doom ala Dark Buddha Rising  On the whole, WOSO stretches things even more than its two mother bands do.

Not everything here is metal. “Infinite Gate Opening” is pure space rock craziness with all sorts of synth overload.  The 10 minute plus “Journey to the Center of Mass” is mostly rhythmic patterns that doesn’t reach a climax almost until the very end (and then it explodes) . “Vacuum Head” and “The Seeker’s Reflection” definitely lean towards the heavier side of the equation, with black metal overtones and crushing doom. Some of this just bores me rigid….other parts are strangely compelling. The album ending title track is truly an odyssey of heavy psych that builds to a massive sonic implosion that is truly inspired. Is it worth all that has gone before? The answer is debatable.

The lyrics revolve around 3 cosmic characters, the Seeker, the Shaman and the Possessor, who find themselves sucked into a dimensional warp where they must combine their minds to escape. Freaky, dude…

If you can handle the odder bits of Oranssi Pazuzu and Dark Buddha Rising, you will probably enjoy “Syntheosis”. Just be aware this is more space rock/ psych in direction. Needless to say, if you don’t like that type of sound, avoid this altogether.

SVART RECORDS

WASTE OF SPACE ORCHESTRA