1) Esoteric is a funeral doom metal band from Birmingham, UK. Formed in July 1992, after the gathering of five individuals, inspired to create dark, innovative music that was evocative to and expressive of the contents of their psyche. The lyrics and music are reflections and transpositions of their thoughts, philosophies, emotions and experiences. The music captures the essence of the word esoteric.
1993 saw the release of "Esoteric Emotions - The Death of Ignorance" - a demo tape containing 82 minutes of hateful - drug influenced tortured doom with a total of 8 tracks. Almost immediately, this brought about 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 6 tracks (lasting almost 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) parted company with the band leaving Greg (vocals), Bryan (bass), Simon and Gordon (guitars). In September of that year, Steve joined Esoteric to complete the guitar section. However, a suitable drummer was yet to be found.
In 1996, Esoteric entered the studio once more to record "The Pernicious Enigma" - Their second double-CD. Nine tracks, lasting a mind-debilitating 115 minutes. "The Pernicious Enigma" proved to be a more complex, sinister, intense and dissonant release, yet it still maintained the Esoteric essence throughout.
October 1997 saw the departure of Simon Philips. Greg (vocals) took the place of Simon on guitar in order to keep the instrumentation the same.
In 1999, "Metamorphogenesis", was unleashed. 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. Still surviving without 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 (Greg, Steve and Gordon) 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. ESOTERIC signed a deal with Season of Mist (Fra) and the album titled "Subconscious Dissolution into the Continuum" was released on June 28th 2004. It contains four songs and lasts 51 minutes. This release sees the band as uncompromising as ever, with a more refined yet totally bombastic production.
The addition of three musicians (keyboards, bass and drums) during the summer of 2003 enabled Esoteric to play live once more. The two successful European tours in 2004 and 2005 took Esoteric to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, UK, Finland and Norway with bands such asWhile Heaven Wept, Skepticism, Reverend Bizarre, Indesinence, Officium Triste, Mourning Beloveth, Thee Plague Of Gentlemen, Pantheist and many others. 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. Mark Bodossian (Bass) and Olivier Goyet (Keyboards) stay with the band to this day but Andy Semmens (drums) parted company in September 2005 following the gigs in Europe.
In February 2007, Joe Fletcher joined on drums to complete the line-up. Steve Peters departed the band in August 2007, and was replaced by Kris Clayton.
Shows during 2007 have so far included the UK, France, Germany and Holland, with bands such as Forgotten Tomb, Anaal Nathrakh, Malasangra, Indesinence and many others.
Esoteric's 5th album, entitled "The Maniacal Vale", has been released on Season of Mist records in June 2008.
The current line-up consists of
Greg Chandler (vocals, guitar)
Mark Bodossian (bass)
Joe Fletcher (drums)
Jim Nolan (guitar)
Official website: www.esotericuk.net
Official Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/esotericuk
2) Esoteric was a Mexican death metal formed in 1993, born from the ashes of the bands Infected and Corrupter.
They released a demo in 1995 titled "Life Is Death".
Beneath This Face
Esoteric Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Festering inside.
Shades of light pass through this room.
And remind me.
There was once a world.
Outside of this stricken maze.
Only instincts drives on.
Our great teacher.
Teaches all.
Passing through this fetid ship.
With sickened feeling of what lies within.
Sporadic thought, spawning its messy web of insanity.
Living from the heart and breath alone.
For emotions determine all that is lost and won here.
And all that is dear.
Taken, by wind and time.
How many times in a lifetime must we break?
And have such a need to be strong?
So tired of this feeling.
Of fighting and living.
Wrought so completely with pain.
Nothing remains...
But a restless longing for death.
Hidden, beneath this face.
The lyrics of Esoteric's song Beneath This Face are a poignant reflection on the struggles of navigating through life while dealing with intense emotional pain and suffering. The song begins by acknowledging the singer's brokenness and festering internal wounds that lie beneath their exterior. The imagery of passing shades of light through the room serves to highlight the stark contrast between the outside world and the singer's inner turmoil. The outside world is characterized as a once beautiful and vibrant place, while the singer's internal world is a stricken maze that they find themselves trapped in.
The lyrics then explore the idea that in the face of overwhelming emotional pain, the only thing that drives us forward is our instincts for survival. Life itself becomes the teacher, teaching us through its experiences, both good and bad. The singer then moves on to describe the feeling of passing through life with the knowledge of the suffering that lies within them. The metaphor of a fetid ship with a messy web of insanity that is spawned by sporadic thoughts is a powerful image of the singer's internal world.
The lyrics continue with a contemplation on the nature of emotions and the role they play in shaping our experiences. All that is dear and valuable is subject to the merciless passing of time and the whims of the wind. The song ends with a weary acknowledgement of the difficulties of coping with intense emotional pain and a longing for release from it, hidden beneath the singer's face.
Line by Line Meaning
Lies a broken man.
There is a man who is broken inside.
Festering inside.
He is experiencing emotional pain that is growing worse over time.
Shades of light pass through this room.
Light shines into the room.
And remind me.
It causes the man to remember something.
There was once a world.
In the past, there used to be a different world.
Outside of this stricken maze.
The man is now in a difficult situation, whereas in the past he was not.
Only instincts drives on.
The man is driven solely by his instincts.
And life.
Life is the force behind the man's instincts.
Our great teacher.
Life is a great teacher to all.
Teaches all.
It teaches everyone.
Passing through this fetid ship.
The man is moving through a dirty, unpleasant place.
With sickened feeling of what lies within.
The man feels disgusted by what is inside.
Sporadic thought, spawning its messy web of insanity.
The man is having random thoughts that are creating confusion.
Living from the heart and breath alone.
The man is living by his emotions and instincts.
For emotions determine all that is lost and won here.
In this situation, emotions play a key role in what is gained or lost.
And all that is dear.
What is important to the man is also affected by emotions.
Taken, by wind and time.
These important things can be taken away over time.
How many times in a lifetime must we break?
The man is questioning how many times he can handle being emotionally broken.
And have such a need to be strong?
Despite the pain, the man feels the need to be strong.
So tired of this feeling.
The man is exhausted from feeling this way.
Of fighting and living.
He is tired of constantly working to survive.
Wrought so completely with pain.
The man is in a great deal of emotional pain.
Nothing remains...
There is nothing left.
But a restless longing for death.
The man feels a strong desire to die.
Hidden, beneath this face.
These feelings are hidden underneath the man's outward appearance.
Contributed by Henry D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Dallas Van Winkle
Since I can't seem to reply to individual comments, i'll just post here:
There is no comparing Esoteric to Ion Dissonance. They are in completely different categories as far as their emotional impact. Ion Dissonance is more testosterone fueled, adrenaline charged Metalcore that derived from early 80's hardcore punk. This is Doom metal, fueled only by the plight of agony; pure dissonance with outbursts of black speed metal.
Something like Ion Dissonance makes you burn out soon. The heavy, foreboding doom melodies of Esoteric only set you up to really feel the bursts when they occur making them all the more enjoyable. It's like being a wolf & chasing an Elk for miles and miles, and when the time is perfect, you use your adrenaline to close the distance for the kill knowing that you may perish if you don't.
As far as pure anger, yes I would say Ion Dissonance is angrier. The faster parts of any given Esoteric song feel more like pure Wrath & Hatred of the biblical sort than the testosterone fueled anger of a young man.
Ramiro Immonen-Muniz
@Ramiro Immonen-Muniz
Dallas Van Winkle, sorry for the mistakes. I was saying that Esoteric also had some gruesome hate/violence-type lyrics in the first albums, although clearly the Pernicious Engima is of the more sophisticated type. The band has come a long way and their newest lyrics do always appear slightly better, somehow coherent with each other, that if you take Ion Dissonance which sounds like some sort of skinhead-hooligan-metal to me, but yeah, you cannot compare the two. Esoteric is more devilish.
Ramiro Immonen-Muniz
Esoteric has a long history of profound lyrical themes dating as far back as the pernicious enigma. Of the first record epistemological some lyrics are more 'fueled' by the just as much 'typical' young satanist (I was this type in my teens so I have a word) intellectual, and yes it is a different sort of anger than the typical adrenaline rush if analysed to the nuances. Finally, ultimately I however do consider anger, even of the catatonic sort, to be categorically nondivisible into biblical OR adrenaline. Esoteric's case is in this record and has always been that they have a good know-how at poems. Something Ion Dissonance phallic-masturbatory name certainly does not imply.
Docteur Zeuhl
You made kind of a point there, but I don't feel that Esoteric is only anger. To me, it actually blends a lot of different emotions into a coherent whole, and I guess this is the main reason why I love it ^^
Pass The Panda
I find loads of sadness too,expressed exelently, but of corse anger too, but have 2 admit Esoteric is hopeless sadness, and that b--long 2gther with aggression. ANYWAY: BRILLIANT, AND IMPOSSIBLE 2 COMPARE WITH ANY BAND I KNOW OF.
spurqz
Well you're right. I listened two songs from that album and it's way more angrier than this. It's pure rage. It's straight anger. And I liked it. But the thing why I like Esoteric so much is that the anger in their songs is repressed. That's why I feel Esoteric more angrier than for example this Ion Dissonance, though it had more straight anger than this. Listening Esoteric is pure agony. In a good way :)
PlanarCollapse2
The vocals are just okay, but hot damn do I like the instrumentation!!!
deathkavaderva baller
Rather than exploding out, the anger festers in its guts and bleeds out like lava.
Д З
Это не funeral, это вообще неземное.
Docteur Zeuhl
Actually, I think the whole album "Cursed" by Ion Dissonance is a thousand times angrier than this :)