Band:	Dark Buddha Rising
Album:	Ritual IX
Style:	Dark Ambient, Drone doom metal
Release date:	November 28, 2008
Guest review by:	Boxcar Willy

01. Enneargy
02. Enneanacatl
03. Enneathan
04. Enneathan

mon·o·lith·ic [mon-uh-lith-ik] /ˌmɒnəˈlɪθɪk/
adjective
1. characterized by massiveness and rigidity and total uniformity: a monolithic society; a monolithic worldwide movement. See also "Dark Buddha Rising" ext. "Ritual IX".

Rumbling and grumbling in at well over an hour, Dark Buddha Rising's sophomore release is something that takes time and preparation to understand. You must be ready for the behemoth that is this album. Take their brand of sludge doom and stretch it out like Sleep's Dopesmoker, combined with its rolling repetitive riffs. Oh yes, I know you want it. I can feel your mouths watering already.

The music itself is far from one riff repeated for 20 minutes, however. The amount of intricacy involved in this album is astounding - the subtle riff changes, the ambient sounds, and the drum patterns. It all combines to form something so mind blowing even Stephen Hawking had to listen to it a couple times to get it. (Yeah, that reference doesn't really work, but I don't care.)

Start with guitar riffs... A standard guitarist writes a 30 second riff, building onto that for about three or four minutes until a song is composed. Now what happens if you do that for over an hour? Good stuff happens, that's what. Most 20-minute tracks are just a few basic riffs repeated over and over. This isn't the case with Dark Buddha Rising. They take their 30 second riff and multiply that by 100, each multiple with its own unique punch and flavour. Now if that isn't good enough for you, you must have been spoiled as a child. Now let's do that with bass work. Combining unique and tasty riffs with groovy flowing bass lines, the band really makes the most of what they play.

The drums factor in as the most important part of this album, though. They keep everything together and in time - which, let's face it, is an extraordinary feat for 20+ minute songs. The drums are spastic, with offbeat fills, and sometimes even standard rock drumming. This adds even more fun to this void of emptiness. I'm astonished that three minds came up with this amount of skill and technicality. I would expect this from the likes of a 30-man metal orchestra, but certainly not a trio from Finland.

Now I'd like to talk about the final track, "Enneathan". This 43 minute monster is something that would usually scare me away. I mean who has 43 minutes to spare for one track? Certainly not me. However, upon clicking on the track on YouTube, I found myself trapped... trapped in the void that is "Enneathan". I spent 43 minutes listening and decoding the music. I tried to find every note, every sound, and before I knew what had hit me, the song ended. I sat through 43 minutes of slow crushing doom/sludge/ambient whatever, and I liked it. My ADHD-riddled mind was kept busy and entertain, by a single song for 43 minutes. That, my friends, is an accomplishment.