Sometimes it can seem like the music I listen to all stems from the 90’s and before. However I do at times jolt myself out of middle age nostalgia . One of the bands to have really grabbed my attention recently has been Finnish stoner / doom / drone / post Black metal outfit Dark Buddha Rising.
I originally checked them out as they were on the Neurot Records roster and had supported Neurosis.
I picked up Inversum , then when it was released a year or so ago II , and just recently I delved into the back catalog and got Abyssolute Transfinite.

I was never a big fan of Black Metal. Back in a distant thrash metal past I enjoyed the first 2 Venom albums but when Scandinavian white supremacists started burning churches and stabbing each other things got out of control. The music which paired tinnie guitars and over done double kick drumming didnt do it for me either. However some of the music described as Post Black Metal has really caught my attention.
I would argue that Dark Buddha Rising fits that description.
On the later 2 releases epic repetitive droning soundscapes paint a dark tortured vision of hell. The music is almost instrumental, ‘vocals’ sitting way back in the mix and mainly taking the form of the tortured screams and lamentations of the damned. The drone nature of the music adds to disconcerting feeling that this is a window on Hades .
Beastwars say obey the riff , well Dark Buddha Rising obeys the groove with deep soundscapes whirling and pulsing over repetitive doom metal laced grooves surging then retreating into the blackened ambient dawn.
On Abyssolute Transfinite things are perhaps a little more down the traditional ‘doom metal’ path . However vocals are still scarce and dark ambient choral inteludes leave you in no doubt that its hell that awaits and a not simple pop music la de dah song structure.
Dark Buddha Rising make vital , original moving music. I desperately want to see them live.