01. Alkiema
02. Sikinä
03. Huntu
04. Iätön
After laying dormant for half a decade, the Dark Buddha Rising is, ahem, rising again, for lack of a better word, but this time it is after reincarnation as a new entity.
It’s funny to think back to my first exposure to Oranssi Pazuzu, and how I fundamentally could not handle Kosmonument at the time of its release; it took me several years to have a breakthrough, but I’m now at a point where I am fond of pretty much every band connected to the sprawling network of Finnish heavy psychedelic/avantgarde/droning music, whether it be the primary hub bands (Oranssi Pazuzu, Dark Buddha Rising), their fusion projects (Atomikylä, Waste Of Space Orchestra), spin-offs and other bands connected via personnel (Haunted Plasma, Kairon; IRSE!, Sum Of R), and even other Finnish bands with stylistic but not personal ties (Onsegen Ensemble). Entheomorphosis is another spin-off, featuring Dark Buddha Rising’s Vesa Ajomo on vocals, guitar and Moog synthesizer alongside members of Mr. Peter Hayden, but it has also been referred to as a spiritual successor to Dark Buddha Rising in the wake of the latter’s continuing inactivity (what’s more, this new band is named after DBR’s 2009 album of the same name). In terms of style, it very much continues that legacy.
At 32 minutes in length, debut album Pyhä Kuilu (coming courtesy of Svart Records) is on the lean side, but a large majority of that runtime is comprised of two bookending epics. In between lurk “Sikinä”, an ominous track with escalating psychedelic guitar textures intensifying around a central off-kilter groove established by the rhythm section, and “Huntu”, a 2-minute horror synth track. The former of these is more in line with the Dark Pazuzu school of music, and also feature the eerie, gargling vocals and shouts of Ajomo that have such a major impact on the album’s sound; while not as unique as former DBR bandmate and current Sum Of R vocalist Marko Neuman, Ajomo’s croaks and hazy yells are peculiar enough to cause division among listeners, but for me they work synergistically with the swirling guitarwork and dizzying rhythms to feed into the mind-bending, alien feel of “Sikinä”, and more broadly with the sinister soundscapes of Pyhä Kuilu as a whole.
It is those two bookending tracks that make the bulk of the album’s impact, however. Opening track “Alkiema” takes a while to get going, consisting purely of borderline inaudible ambience before isolated drum hits join around 90 seconds in. The road to full band participation is protracted, and even when guitars are first heard, it is but in the form of droning distortion and menacing, distant tremolo lines floating around within the mix. A third of the song is gone before the drone doom metal style established by Dark Buddha Rising is fully brought to fruition. The song plods relentlessly forward as a wave of sustained chords, before dissipating back into sinister ambient noise for the closing minutes.
Where “Alkiema” is ponderous, closing track “Iätön” is more immediate, with heavy droning riffs from the off, and with drummer Lassi Männikkö let loose to unleash a rampant assault on the drumkit; these rapid tom rolls add a compelling urgency to the song, even as the guitars form but a backdrop of distortion with sustained psychedelic tones overlaid atop. There’s a mid-song ambient lull for a few minutes, but that same surging rhythm resurfaces later on to drive the track to its huge, cacophonic conclusion. If Entheomorphosis is intended to be a spiritual successor to Dark Buddha Rising, “Iätön” demonstrates that the band is worthy of inheriting that legacy.
If you have an affinity for weird, atmospheric, psychedelic metal, Finland (and a few Finnish musicians in particular) has been a thriving hub of such music for approaching two decades now, and Entheomorphosis’s debut record provides good evidence that we can expect to hear more from there for a good while longer yet.
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Written on 08.06.2025 by
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