Otu – You’re Still There

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · January 26, 2026

Otu Suurmunne is a super talented musician and producer based in Helsinki, Finland. Running his vast and diverse music under his company Moonic Productions, Otu can mimic countless styles of music and artists with great depth and creativity. He is the guitarist and vocalist for the stoner metal juggernauts Kaiser , and his own style is as introspective and diverse as one would examine. For a complete discography of Otu’s recordings, google Moonic Productions and you’ll discover his huge collection of work. It’s quite amazing on how much content that Otu produces in one calendar year. You’re Still There was released on November 24th 2025, and I just found out about it. The record contains eleven tracks at thirty six minutes long.

On April 7th 2025, Otu released the Double EPs of Apocalypse and Apocalypse Aftermath (review here). It’s a crushing and brutal release that showed another side to Otu’s range that was not fully expressed before. You’re Still There Is a collection of hard rocking songs that really explore many different sounds and styles under the heavy rock and metal umbrella. The sound quality of this recording record is immediately apparent from the very first notes of “Decaying Soul”. The damn thing sounds fantastic! “Decaying Soul” kicks up the heavy groove and crushing riffing right out of the gate. The song sounds massive with uptempo rhythms and an obliterating doom breakdown, midway through. Otu’s vocals are everywhere on this track, from soaring to aggressive and everything in between. His range is incredible and fits the groove metal punchiness of the music nicely.

“What’s It Worth” has an almost poppy approach that connects vocal melodies with the bouncy tones. It sounds quite catchy and awesome, actually. The vocals are over the top incredible. The song then punks up the tempo and angst and speeds into a rocking colossal of hardcore fever. The third song called “The System” has Otu’s System Of A Down influence, along with other nu metal hammering. It’s definitely a headbanger of a tune. “Full Heart, Cold Heart” is a very interesting song that goes into a few different directions. The unpredictability of this song is so incredible! It starts off with layered vocal harmonies and clean guitar strumming. It gets heavy right when the drums and guitars enter and has a natural build up that can change in an instance. The synthesized sounds are beautifully captured and placed in the song at such timely moments. His songwriting skills are at such a high level, really dazzling on this track. The song has a very orchestrated notion that just flows ahead so freely.

The next one is called “Hit Song” and it’s nasty! It has a discordant and doomy twist and screamed vocals blaring to a hardcore fury of Slayer-esc rhythms. It’s a quick minute and a half rager that plays in nicely with the next one, called “Take The Wheel”. This is another great track with such killer fuzz dripping tones oozing from the speakers. It has a techno feel to the music and textures of atmospheric tones too. “Hold My Hand, You’re Not There” has a raw and dirty guitar tone that sounds great. The heavy blues driven track is almost hypnotizing, as the vocals lure you in for a mysterious audio joy ride.

Otu’s diversity is stretched out to its limit on You’re Still There. He goes into an enchanted power ballad with “Ghost Of You” and rages into “I Feel Alive” right after. The track listing is perfect on this album, really mixing up the heavier songs with the mellow tunes. The fullness of sound that is achieved on this recording is astounding. There is so much going on sonically in these songs that really makes for such an expansive and interesting listening experience. “Cappuccino” has a vibrant ethnic tone and strumming that sounds very cool. The song has an upbeat rhythm rocking down the progressive highway. It has a Moroccan flavor with a jamming component wrapped around it.

The final song on You’re Still Here is called “Thanks For The Tears”. It starts off mellow and psychedelic and draws you in with Otu’s smooth voice. The bass groove is majestic along with the blankets of keyboards layered on top. The airy head tripping track is a great closure for such an expansive recording. All eleven tracks stay within the 2-4 minute mark and utilize every note to the fullest range and capacity. Otu‘s skills to write, perform, and record everything himself is remarkable. His musical diversity is what’s most impressive to me because whatever style or genre he is playing, it is done with accuracy and integrity.