DARK BUDDHA RISING - II / LP

Prepare the mind, the body, the deepest recesses of the soul: the black gates that Dark Buddha Rising opened a decade ago with I open further in 2018: the band’s II EP continues to twist spiritual gyres and follow calls from beyond. For ten years, this Finnish band has convened in the now-famous Wastement—set below their home city of Tampere—to roil in the sounds of the underground, to meet dark spirits, to breathe in time with rhythmic pulses sent from the skies, the stars and the very dirt around. On its face, the band emits the blackest of psychedelia; deep down, theirs are sounds forged in the blue fires of the ancients—exhalations of gods, goddesses and demons alike. Of this new offering, V. Ajomo says: “To drain our sonic temple, we wanted to record the new material which was made for 2016 shows in order to proceed towards the unknown with open minds and hearts. After the cleansing, we initiated our chamber with ambient meditation and opened the portals of inspiration for our future work.” This EP sees the band returning to its purest incarnation: a three-piece rhythm section—J.Rämänen on drums, P. Rämänen on bass and V. Ajomo on guitar—and with J. Saarivuori on synths and M. Neuman on main vocals. “We have done a full cycle of the orbit and now is the time for gravitational slingshot towards the new dimensions in sound, deliverance and vision,” Ajomo adds.