esoteric

Background information
Origin	Birmingham, England, UK
Genre(s)	Avant-garde doom Funeral doom Experimental
Years active	1992 – present
Label(s)	Season of Mist Eibon Records Aesthetic Death
Website	Official website
Members
Greg Chandler Steve Peters Gordon Bicknell Mark Bodossian Olivier Goyet Joe Fletcher

Esoteric is a United Kingdom extreme doom metal band from Birmingham founded in 1992 that incorporates highly acute, somewhat distorted vocals and samples over slow paced riffs and atmospheric melodies.

Biography

Esoteric was formed in 1992, and in 1993, released Esoteric Emotions - The Death of Ignorance - a demo tape containing 82 minutes of material with a total of eight tracks. Shortly thereafter they received an offer from Aesthetic Death to record a full-length CD of new material.[1]

In June 1994, Esoteric entered Rich Bitch studios in Birmingham, UK to record six tracks to be 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). In September of that year, Steve joined the band to complete the guitar section, leaving only the drummer position vacant.^{[citation needed]}

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, they 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.[2]

In 1996, Esoteric entered the studio once more to record The Pernicious Enigma - their second double-CD, consisting of 9 tracks. Although hailed by fans as somewhat more complex and dissonant than their first album, it maintained the band's familiar, highly atmospheric sound.^{[citation needed]} Towards the end of 1997, one day before they were due to depart for a short tour of Germany, Simon (guitar) left the band without warning. 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), they managed to carry out a commercially successful tour.^{[citation needed]}

Metamorphogenesis, 1999

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; without a permanent drummer, Esoteric was forced to use session drum-work, provided courtesy of Kieth York. Eibon Records (Italy) offered to release these tracks which were recorded, engineered and produced without the aid of professional mixing and/or mastering technicians, and in 1999, Metamorphogenesis, was released.[3]

In May of 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 in intervals over a period of time spanning across the rest of the year and into 2003, using session work (as with their previous album) involving (Keith York - Drums and Trevor Lines - Bass). After 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.[4]

Esoteric have completed their line-up with the recent addition of three new members during the summer of 2003, including Andy Semmens (drums) and Mark Bodossian (bass). In addition, Olivier Goyet joined the band to perform on the (keyboards), which allows them to better compose their material in a live environment, where the use of an extra instrument has become necessary to emulate the complexity of the studio recordings. Following this was a 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.^{[citation needed]}

Steve Peters left the band briefly for unknown reasons in 2007 to be replaced by Kris (ex-Imindain) for a couple of gigs in France. But in July of that year he was back in the band for the recording of their 5th album.^{[citation needed]}

Discography

Subconscious Dissolution into the Continuum, 2004

• 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)

Members

Current members

• Greg Chandler - Vocals, Guitar (1992-)
• Steve Peters - Guitar (1994-)
• Gordon Bicknell - Guitar (1992-)
• Mark Bodossian - Bass (2003-)
• Olivier Goyet - Keyboards (2003-)
• Joe Fletcher - Drums (2007-)

Former members

• Darren - Drums (1992-1994)
• Stuart - Guitar (1992-1994)
• Simon - Guitar (1992-1997)
• Bryan Beck - Bass (1992-2002)
• Andy Semmens - Drums (2003-2005)

Session

• Anthony - Drums (1997)
• Keith York - Drums (1999 and 2004)
• Trevor Lines - Bass (2004)

Guest

• Tom Kvålsvoll (Paradigma/Dødheimsgard) - Vocals (1999)

External links

Official sites

• Esoteric

Record labels

• Aesthetic Death
• Eibon Records
• Season of Mist

Related links

• Esoteric at MusicBrainz
• Esoteric (band) at All Music Guide

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