I'm all for psychedelia, space rock, and to a certain extent drone when it's done with at least a smidgen of variety. The latest from Dark Buddha Rising, Dakhmandal, sees this six-piece once again test the patience of the listener with their brand of mostly instrumental psychedelic/drone/doom/space-rock. Lilting guitar chords, meditative bass, gentle percussion, and bleeping synths wash and float throughout the mix on these six curiously titled tracks, the occasional burst of crushing, distorted riffs smashing through the haze to wake the listener up before they settle into a comatose state. All the tracks are quite lengthy (over 10 minutes) and allow for plenty of extended, well, whatever you want to call this. It's like a late night bong session between Neurosis, Hawkwind, Sun 0))), and Black Sabbath, though sadly, it's not overly compelling. Perhaps the problem is there's just too much of all of it; the waves of massive distortion on "H" and "N" are quite impressive, and I love the fluttering synths that blast throughout the guitar fog on "M", but an hours worth of this is just a tad bit taxing on the senses, at least for this listener. Condense this down to 20 or 30 minutes, and maybe you have an ominous, worthwhile statement, but in its current state, Dakhmandal is creepy drone overload.
Track Listing
01. D
02. K
03. H
04. M
05. N
06. L
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