Band:	Dark Buddha Rising
Album:	Inversum
Style:	Dark Ambient, Drone doom metal
Release date:	September 25, 2015
A review by:	Auntie Sahar

01. E S O
02. E X O

A bell is struck in a silent temple. Black clouds gather over the Himalayas. A yogi lights incense in a forest, isolated. He approaches death, and is ready for the trip.

The yogi hears a resounding hum all around him, a quiet, yet powerful drone. He blinks off and on, as his vision begins to gradually darken before vanishing entirely. He feels the full, heaving force of his consciousness as it is ejected from its earthly shell and thrust into the bardo. It is weightless, and feeling at bliss as he enters this transitory state, the yogi can hear endless layers of sounds all around him, intermingling, and unsettled in their intent. He imagines the chants of the healers from his village, and they are there, as a steady pulse in the void that guides him on his way. He pictures the rains during monsoon season, and hears them, as the heavy beating of drums and the thud of guitars within the background. Clearly, reality in this new realm is shaped by his consciousness.

With this sudden realization, the yogi's environment takes a turn for the ominous. Unable to control his thoughts, features shift and sway radically all around him, as his environment becomes a tempest too strong to command. He hears his fear, projected outward now as terrible shrieks, enhanced by loud whooshing noises encircling them. Looking upwards, the yogi can see a dark Buddha rising on the horizon, with a head of flame, and surrounded by two dancing snakes. The yogi's thoughts begin racing now, tripping over each other in a frenzied panic, faster and faster, and the hum from earlier intensifies now in its volume. The rain he imagined now begins to fall at a manic pace, with the shrieks and chants accompanying into a frightening, yet magnificent climax.

And then, when the combination of everything feels as if it is almost too much to bear, the yogi is thrust like lighting through the void, blurring his surroundings, and headed straight to the open jaws of the dark Buddha. Things have come to a standstill now. He exits the mouth of death.

The journey is complete, yet starts anew
Tranquility regained
He can hear a baby's crying
More is yet to come