Even after almost 20 years of existence, Bizarre Uproar is more alive
and active than ever before. Shortly after the release of the “Putrid Live
Activities” 4-tape box, the artist’s own label “Filth and Violence” treats its
noise-fanatic followers to a limited tape version of “Perverse Bizarre
Humiliation”, BU’s newest studio album, soon to be released on CD via Freak
Animal Records. In its early stages, the project of “Filth and Violence”
founder and owner Pasi Markkula played pretty straightforward harsh noise with
its own identity. After years of ultra-violent scrapmetal abuse, Bizarre Uproar
started to sort of re-invent itself. With landmark works like “Purification”,
“Musta Rotta EP”, “Viha & Kiima” and the last full-length “Rape Africa”,
the project gained an unmistakable style, marvelously aided by the artworks (i.e.
themes) and Pasi’s distinctive vocals. Bizarre Uproar is not only one of the
most prolific projects hailing from the “noise El Dorado” Finland, it is also
one of the most extreme and perverse ones.
Extreme and perverse are terms, which many may have used to describe the
videoclip to the track “Kusi Paska Veri“, taken from “Perverse Bizarre
Humiliation“ (editor’s note: this video can’t be directly linked due to its
pornographic nature. It is very easy to find on the label’s homepage, though).
It shows Pasi wearing a latex mask lying on the floor masturbating. After a few
moments, a woman appears, squats over him and defecates onto his chest. She
picks parts of her waste up and slowly feeds it to Pasi. In seemingly endless
scenes we see him gobbling up the excrement and licking his lips, obviously in
a state of total bliss. The inlay cover, which is professionally printed by the
way (very unusual for the label), shows a black and white collage of his
shit-smeared face and also the track list seems to focus on the self-shot scat video,
which was released shortly before the album came out.
The first track “Female Excrement” starts off with extensive sounds taken from
a scat session (at least, that’s what it sounds like)accompanied by static,
high-frequency sounds, which always have a certain presence, despite the loud
talking and gagging. After some running time, I notice that this is not the
intro to the track, but the track itself. After the dialogue and the sounds
(from the session) end, so do the sounds in the background. Maybe, “Female
Excrement” could be seen as more of an intro than a real track, however, it
grants access to “Perverse Bizarre Humiliation” in a very interesting way.
This is followed by the track “Bliss”, which also starts out very
slowly, presenting static sounds accompanied by odd drumbeats. Although this
sound is a bit unusual for Bizarre Uproar, the vocals have remained the same.
On “Perverse Bizarre Humiliation” they sound sicker than ever before, sometimes
even cruel, but still with a feeling of torment behind them. After a short
waiting period, some darker, more aggressive frequencies, reminding of classics
like “Musta Rotta”, are discreetly introduced. With every second, they build up
tension and become stronger together, reminding of the preceding album “Rape
Africa”. However, the approach and the end result are certainly way different.
The more distorted and noisy the track gets, the more effective it turns out to
be and after a while, as it unfolds all of its power, I start to realize how “Perverse
Bizarre Humiliation” is supposed to work.
“Kusi Paska Veri”, the track to which the aforementioned video was
released, pursues the virtues established by “Bliss”. The track slowly starts
off with piercing and hard sounds, standing in complete harmony and creating a
great atmosphere of degeneration. The vocals sound even more extreme and harsh
than they did before and are now in the main focus even more. During the first
half of this long track, extremely hard sounding, echoing percussion elements
are introduced, noticeably contributing to the overall harshness. “Kusi Paska
Veri” doesn’t build up, it maintains a level of total sickness and slow
hardness, without losing itself in total chaos. The last minutes merely consist
of the metallic sounding and droning percussive elements. This may become a
little tiring after some time, but somehow it suits the album perfectly due to
the aggression it conveys. Be that as it may, the first half of the track is
clearly superior to the end.
However, the last track of the album entitled “Bizarre Domination” takes
a fully different course. Rythmically beaten drums accompany a filthy sounding
bass guitar, playing a pretty straightforward melody. One could possibly classify
the beginning as noise-rock, almost contradicting the preceding tracks. After
some rocky minutes an ultra-distorted, mean sounding synthesizer sets in and
Pasi’s vocals, just as distorted as the synth sounds, relive the viciousness
known from Bizarre Uproar’s old days. The second half of “Bizarre Domination”
is most surely the most the most chaotic and aggressive material that “Perverse
Bizarre Humiliation” has to offer. Short, but
very intense and harsh. A worthy closing track!
All in all “Perverse Bizarre Humiliation“ is a very distinct and round piece
of noise. The sounds are mostly high-pitched, drawn-out and succeed in creating
a very intense atmosphere, although this can oftentimes be ascribed to a
deliberately conjured up feeling of monotony. Pasi’s vocals redefine “sickness”,
but are not as aggressive as they were on previous recordings. The latter
wouldn’t have suited the concept, though. Like many times before, Markkula
explores new territories with Bizarre Uproar, but still keeps some trademark
qualities alive. “Perverse Bizarre Humiliation” is surely not easily
accessible, but all the more interesting. In my opinion, a great listening
experience!
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