Puppe Magnetik has existed since 2022 as the brainchild of Finnish musician Aina Virtanen. Laudans Deum (Rune Serpent Europa) is the project’s debut record, and it promises to blend elements of Neofolk, Dark Ambient, Death-Industrial, and Avant-Garde music.

The music on Laudans Deum is a combination of experimental and traditional sonics. it is often difficult to tell whether any one of the layered up sounds emanates from an acoustic instrument or a synthesizer. Either way, layers of sound are built upon one another to create densely rich textures. Sometimes, droning noise is used (as on “Suspendium, Rosarium Et Crucifixu”), whilst elsewhere more traditional chord sequences are adopted (for example on “The Labyrinth”). Samples of various sounds are interspersed liberally, and everything is run through huge amounts of reverb. Drum sounds are rarely used, and when they are, they are generally pushed to the back of the mix beneath swamps of other sounds.

Whilst there are many extended instrumental sections, and parts where sampled spoken word vocals are used, Virtanen’s voice often dominates the tracks. Her arrestingly shrill shrieks cut through the music with urgency and force. She often sounds truly terrifying, such as on “Suspendium, Rosarium Et Crucifixu”, where she shouts unrelentingly over the top of an ominous soundscape. Virtanen’s classical training is evident in the way she deftly leaps around relatively complex melodies, as on album opener “Act. XXII.”

Whichever direction Laudans Deum goes in, it is always defiantly weird and unashamedly bizarre. Indeed, it maintains an unearthly quality throughout, as if these songs and soundscapes have been dredged up from the netherworld.

Laudans Deum often jumps around between styles in a way that is sometimes a little disconcerting. At one moment we are in full-on noise territory (“Inner Light / Outer Protest”), at the next we are witnessing a classical guitar performance (“Timeless Serenade”), and then we pay a visit to an early twentieth-century dance hall (“Zwischen Licht und Schatten”). Whether the styles juxtaposed are just a little bit too disparate will be up to the individual listener. Either way, this particular combination of different sounds is a large part of what makes Laudans Deum the unique piece of art that it is.

Laudans Deum is dark, intricate, and intriguing. It displays an effortless fusion of styles that come together to create a sound that belongs entirely to Puppe Magnetik. Whilst for the most part not exactly “heavy” in the metal sense, the record is deeply powerful and uncompromisingly sombre. Fans of esoteric experimental music will find much to enjoy here.

Buy the album here:
https://puppemagnetik.bandcamp.com/album/laudans-deum

7 / 10
DUNCAN EVANS
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