Having turned doom on its head and forged the genre into strange new paths with demo collection Esoteric Emotions: The Death Of Ignorance in 1993. It was time for Birmingham based band Esoteric to release their debut album the following year. Complete with lofty title suggesting philosophical trauma, that’s exactly what anyone of an unsuspecting nature would have ended up with accidently picking it up and giving it a play. This formative album has been out of print for 15 years and has now been resurrected by original label Aesthetic Death as a double CD housed in a hard-case digipack complete with internal booklet and new layout. Full of cosmic illustrations which are going to have your head doing cartwheels it is obvious straight away that this is going to be one hell of a tripped out experience. Historical knowledge based on six further albums and mind-numbing live shows which have recently taken the band as far as Australia means that it is less likely that someone is going to fall into this wormhole by accident. Still the 6 track 88-minute double should certainly be approached with caution as the band were at an embryonic metamorphosis and still honing their experimental craft along with the more limited recording techniques that are available today.

First number ‘Bereft’ is a 20-minute epic full of glistening guitars, rumbling bass and Greg Chandler’s signature low gibbering growls, some of its strange verse actually attributed to Anton LaVey’s Satanic Bible. Damn its frightening stuff too, full of misty tentacles creeping through otherworldly portals and strange disembodied psychedelic sounds which really do weird things to the listener’s brain. This is the sort of work that 1st album Paranoia by Hawkwind hinted at and it has as much a feel as being some sort of summoning ritual as it does music itself. Christ knows what seeped through the edges during the recording and when one considers any imbibed substances during the process it’s even more unfathomable. One also has to wonder if it was all planned and rehearsed or just a massive one-jam take. There is space and it moves from claustrophobia to drift along with less psyche embellishments, holding attention in an opiated warbling narcotic fog. By comparison ‘Only Hate (Baresark)’ sees the sextet having a stab at doom death with their shortest track ever at a very lean 2:41 running time. It’s quite the rudimentary exercise and not necessarily a successful one. The guitar clamour and battering is as abrasive and Greg speeds through lyrics full of spit and disgust like he’s reeling off an essay. It sounds like the sort of band you might stumble across in a squat and it is the oddest punk rock song you may ever encounter “I only have hate for this fucking society” indeed. ‘The Noise Of Depression’ is a slow descent into a decaying mind one that very slowly signifies torment, hopelessness, self-abuse and desolate futility. Needless to say it’s more minimalistic template wrung out over harrowing 19-minutes will for most be a dismal listening experience and one where any form of catharsis is difficult to find. The stop-start dynamics within however gives it some distinction and the more curious will find something more than a mere tortured and discomforting dirge until it suddenly stops without warning leaving you even more demented and uncertain on whether to confront the second disc!

Thick bass tones and a near slow stoner groove sees ‘Lamented Despondency’ not so much kicking off the second disc but setting you up for the duration. Low growls and distorted echoing shrieks follow and melody has a dismal air which may have drawn attention of fans recently discovering the first two albums by My Dying Bride. The flower here had not so much withered though but died and decayed. Weird sonic reverb and a touch of bluesy guitar spiralling prevents this one from being a total exercise in wretchedness. ‘Eradication (Of Thorns)’ is a throbbing edifice with simmering rage and odd guitar signatures. The effects are more prevalent here and spacey pulses and industrial breakage give a cold, grey vibe totally apt for the drabness of early 90’s Brum. One wonders how close the group were to the Streetcleaning vibes of Godflesh but again even their fans would find this a difficult sound despite the sudden flurry of mania towards the end. Ready for a 26-minute finale called ‘Awaiting My Death?’ Well nobody promised us a rose garden here as we rumble slowly as ever into this marathon of suffering. There are however some lighter tones from the guitars at the start of the group’s second longest song (Descent from last album A Pyrrhic Existence beats it by just over a minute) and an airy floating feeling offers some hope that perhaps this is a death to be embraced following suffering and pain. Then again, lyrically it’s all about shattered dreams, lack of hope and joy as despondent craggy blackened growls are retched out over torturous lengths over lumbering melody. You get the picture and it ain’t a particularly pretty one.

Clearly finding themselves here and experimenting with the effects at their disposal ‘Epistemological Despondency’ is a tough album to take in, especially after the first couple of numbers. Morose and drab, repetitive and often minimal it certainly isn’t for everybody and it would be interesting to hear what its writers and players think of it today, those of them who have not vanished into the ether. Thankfully this deadbeat, outsider exercise didn’t see the end of the band even if Greg Chandler is the sole survivor playing in the line-up today. A worthy historical resurrection for those who can take it. Confront at the following links.

(8/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/esotericukofficial

https://esotericuk.bandcamp.com/album/epistemological-despondency

https://www.aestheticdeath.com/releases.php?mode=singleitem&albumid=5818