Esoteric | Artist

Esoteric is a British funeral doom band formed 1992 in Birmingham by Greg Chandler (guitar, vocals), Gordon Bicknell (guitar), Simon Phillips (guitar), Bryan Beck (bass), Stuart (guitar) and Darren (drums). In the present lineup, Chandler and Bicknell remain, along with Mark Bodossian (bass), Joe Fletcher (drums) and Jim Nolan (guitar). Esoteric is regarded as one of the first groups to play the funeral doom style of metal. The band has named a variety of groups as influences, including metal bands Morbid Angel and My Dying Bride, plus prog rock bands Pink Floyd, King Crimson and Spacemen 3. To-date the band has released nine consistently excellent studio albums, standouts include The Pernicious Enigma (1997), Metamorphogenesis (1999), Subconscious Dissolution Into the Continuum (2004), The Maniacal Vale (2008), Paragon of Dissonance (2011) and A Pyrrhic Existence (2019). Their most recent release, the superb A Pyrrhic Existence, contains only six tracks, five of which clock in at over 15 minutes, and the opener "Descent" goes for over 27 minutes. One reviewer comments "This is doom metal slowed down to a near cryogenic halt where tempos ooze by at a snail’s pace and ferocious atmospheric suffocation smothers every protruding guitar riff echoing in and out of existence".

Artist Website: esotericuk.net

Featured Albums: Esoteric

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