Esoteric (band)
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| Background information | ||
| Origin | Birmingham, England, UK  |
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| Genre(s) | Avant-garde doom Funeral doom Experimental |
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| Years active | 1992 – present | |
| Label(s) | Season of Mist Eibon Records Aesthetic Death |
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| Website | Official website | |
| Members | ||
| Greg Chandler Steve Peters Gordon Bicknell Mark Bodossian Olivier Goyet |
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Esoteric are an English extreme doom metal band from Birmingham founded in 1992. They incorporate extreme, somewhat distorted vocals and samples over very slow paced riffs and eerie melodies.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
In 1993, Esoteric released Esoteric Emotions - The Death of Ignorance - a demo tape containing 82 minutes of doom metal with a total of eight tracks. Almost immediately, this resulted in an offer from Aesthetic Death to record a full-length CD of new material.
In June 1994, Esoteric entered Rich Bitch studios in Birmingham to record six tracks (lasting nearly 90 minutes). This recording was released as a double CD, titled Epistemological Despondency. Soon after the recording of this album, Stuart (guitar) and Darren (drums) left the band, leaving Greg (vocals), Bryan (bass), Simon and Gordon (guitars). Their departure made little difference in terms of creative input, as they had not contributed anything to the writing process. In September of that year, Steve joined Esoteric to complete the guitar section. However, a suitable drummer was yet to be found.
Having only played a handful of gigs in the UK, Esoteric travelled to Germany to play a series of shows. Half way through the tour, the band were forced to turn back as an injury to one of the guitarists made it impossible to continue. In June 1995, the band was back on the road with a small tour of the UK. This tour was also cut short after only two shows when their equipment was destroyed by fire. Once the equipment was replaced, Esoteric began to prepare for the recording of their second release on Aesthetic Death Records.
In 1996, Esoteric entered the studio once more to record The Pernicious Enigma - their second double-CD. Nine tracks, lasting 115 minutes. The Pernicious Enigma proved to be a more complex and dissonant release, yet it still maintained the Esoteric essence throughout. Towards the end of 1997, Esoteric decided to go on tour once more to Germany, one day before they were due to depart, Simon (guitar) left the band with no warning and no apparent reason. Fortunately, Greg (vocals) was able to fill in at short notice. This has since become a permanent arrangement. Aside from the fact that Esoteric were now two members short (still surviving without a drummer), the tour was a success.
Progress was becoming slow without a full line-up and with increasing work commitments, and the three tracks that were in development over a period of two years were recorded in order to make way for new material - Eibon Records (Italy) offered to release these tracks which were recorded, engineered and produced entirely by the band themselves. In 1999, Metamorphogenesis, was released. This release, containing only three tracks, is often described as a mini-CD in comparison with the first two albums, yet it has a total playing time of nearly 45 minutes. Metamorphogenesis shows Esoteric to be more extreme and diverse than ever. As they lacked a permanent drummer, session drums were recorded courtesy of Keith York.
In May 2002, just one week before Esoteric were due to start recording their fourth album, Bryan (Bass) left the band leaving the three remaining members to record the album. This was done at intervals over a period of time spanning across the rest of the year and into 2003, giving the band time to fine-tune the recording and production and also giving time to allow the session musicians (Keith York - Drums and Trevor Lines - Bass) to learn and record their parts. After a lot of negotiation with various labels, Esoteric signed with the French label Season of Mist. The album titled Subconscious Dissolution into the Continuum was released on June 28th 2004. It contains four songs and lasts 51 minutes.
Esoteric have completed their line-up with the recent addition of three new members found during the summer of 2003. Andy Semmens (drums), Mark Bodossian (bass) and Olivier Goyet (keyboards). The addition of the keyboard player allows the band to orchestrate the material better in the live environment, where the use of an extra instrument has become necessary to emulate the complexity of the studio recordings. This was demonstrated successfully during the tour of Europe in April 2004, where the band played in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium and the Netherlands, with bands such as While Heaven Wept, Indesinence, Officium Triste, Mourning Beloveth, Thee Plague Of Gentlemen, Pantheist, and many others. In 2005, Semmens left the band.
[edit] Discography
- Esoteric Emotions - The Death of Ignorance (Self Released 1993)
- Epistemological Despondency (Aesthetic Death Records 1994)
- The Pernicious Enigma (Aesthetic Death Records 1997)
- Metamorphogenesis (Eibon Records 1999)
- Subconscious Dissolution into the Continuum (Season of Mist 2004)
[edit] Members
[edit] Current members
- Greg Chandler - Vocals, Guitar (1992-)
- Steve Peters - Guitar (1994-)
- Gordon Bicknell - Guitar (1992-)
- Mark Bodossian - Bass (2003-)
- Olivier Goyet - Keyboards (2003-)
[edit] Former members
- Darren - Drums (1992-1994)
- Stuart - Guitar (1992-1994)
- Simon - Guitar (1992-1997)
- Bryan Beck - Bass (1992-2002)
- Andy Semmens - Drums (2003-2005)
[edit] Session
- Anthony - Drums (1997)
- Keith York - Drums (1999 and 2004)
- Trevor Lines - Bass (2004)
[edit] Guest
- Tom Kvålsvoll (Paradigma) - Vocals (1999)
