For those who love psychedelic and ritual metal, an overtly esoteric and alienating sub-genre, this collection of the first three records by Finland’s Dark Buddha Rising is a beautiful gift from Svart Records. Before settling at Svart itself and recording for Neurot, the Finnish shamans had released three double-discs, 2008’s Ritual IX, 2009’s Entheomorphosis and 2011’s Abyssolute Transfinite, on their Post-RBMM label with a low print run, quickly becoming a fetish for collectors. Now they are available remastered and with a new look, on double vinyl, CD and digital download. In addition, there is also a beautiful limited edition of seven vinyls, which in addition to containing the aforementioned LPs also has the unobtainable 2007 demo inside. Defining their music is very difficult, it is also hard to decide whether it is music, since here musical instruments, including the human voice, are used to perform rituals that open the mind to dimensions other than the one in which we live. Endless rounds of bass guitar and drums, with different frequencies than normal, enter our minds and scrape away our mental ideas to open doors for us. For example, the ritual called Ennethean, from the first album Ritual IX, has such a low frequency that it will make your whole body vibrate, limbs included. Obviously this cannot be a musical proposition for everyone: some curious people may be new followers of this great band, but those who are not open-minded should not even enter here. Dark Buddha Rising are one of the few bands in the world, including Nibiru from Turin, who actually make ritual music, i.e. something that puts us in touch with different worlds, inside and outside of us. Space-time coordinates lose their meaning here, we travel through the universe like the ball of a pinball machine, or very slowly, with the terror of meeting Lovecraft’s Ancients. Magic, archaic archetypes that merge within us, because they have always been there and this ritual music of the Finns brings them out or simply makes us relive them. A dutiful and well-executed operation by Svart Records to bring back lost gems and expand our consciousness. (M.Argo – MetalEyes 25/9/2018)

2018 – Svart Records