ESOTERIC — Epistemological Despondency (review)

ESOTERIC — Epistemological Despondency album cover

Album · 1994 · Funeral Doom Metal

4.5/5 · 2011-10-11
Wilytank

The next stop on my classic funeral doom metal tour is Esoteric. And like the other bands I've explored, this band has an experience all its own to explore. Now, if you're read my review of Skepticism's 'Lead and Aether', you'll recall that I thought it was interesting that there could be some short funeral doom songs. On 'Epistemological Despondency', you have one song that's not even three minutes; but other than that, there's some very long songs. One around 12 minutes, one around 19, one around 20, and one around 26. If that's not enough, they are split up into two different discs, which may make this album an exhausting listen. However, the separate discs aren't even 50 minutes each. Split up, it's not as an exhausting listen as it would be.

The first mammoth song is "Bereft". Some haunting sounding string pluckings are played with some droning noise fading in, then disappearing when the funeral doom metal starts. Instrumentally, the funeral doom is nothing unlike I've already experienced, but the vocal style grabs my attention. The low growls actually sound like some angry predatory beast growling at one point. The echoing effect put on them makes them even creepier, making one of the most disturbing vocals I've heard in any album ever. At 3:26, the funeral doom pace is broken by an odd section of guitar, noise, and piano getting at higher and higher keys. Screamed vocals (probably not reciting lyrics) are also thrown into the mix. This sequence goes on for five fucking minutes until the funeral doom rhythm begins to re-establish itself around the 8 minute mark. Spacey keyboards are also played at this part, but go away when the vocals start again. Around the 11 minute mark, the guitar goes off playing a few power chords played in a way in which, combined with the music, kinda gives this song a stoner feel as well. This tone doesn't leave until the 17 minute mark where a more standard funeral doom tone takes the reins one more time, and it is this way that the song ends. I enjoy my variations in music such as funeral doom, but damn! That is one scary as fuck experience!

...and that was just the first song!

Now after that, there is a shorter song, "Only Hate (Berserk)". This song seems somewhat out of place on a funeral doom album. The instruments are played in a rockin jazz meets death metal style. Vocals are the same as they were on the first song. After the first minute, there is a pretty awesome sounding guitar solo. All in all, I don't think very highly of this song, but it definitely does help make Esoteric one of the more "WTF?" bands out there.

"The Noise of Depression" wraps up the first disc. The funeral doom comes back after being interrupted by the previous song. If "Bereft" wasn't enough to describe Esoteric's atmosphere of funeral doom, you can easily tell here. It does have a melancholic feel to it, but it also seems disturbing and distorted, even spiteful. The song doesn't vary for the first 5 minutes until the lead guitar playing disappears and the rhythm changes to include some regular stops in the beat. They ditch these stops around the 7 minute mark to go to another rhythm. A noiseish keyboard sound comes in at 8:51. Rhythms change and other elements come and go such as the guitar lead around the 12 minute mark which eventually gives way to another session of creepy keyboard action. As the song reaches the end, it slows slightly more; and for one more go at weirdness, at the 18:39 minute mark a sample is played that sounds like some man-child throwing a temper tantrum. What the hell?

At this point, it is wise to take a break to avoid losing your mind. The first half of this album was without a doubt an otherworldly experience with "Bereft" being the biggest highlight.

The second disc has a noticeable stoner doomish feel to it. The first song, "Lamented Despondency", begins with a psychedelic guitar effect, and the first vocal lines are delivered without the echo effect. The echo does make it back into the music eventually though, much to my rejoice. Another cool effect comes in at the 4:52 mark with some steely effect on one of the guitars. The guitar solo at the nine minute mark also feels like it was derived from a stoner doom album. The funeral doom is still here, but this half of the album is beginning to feel like stoner funeral doom! Good for Esoteric for being more experimental.

Then, another notably shorter song to fill the gap. "Eradification (of Thorns)", unlike "Only Hate (Berserk)" is definitely more fitting to the rest of the album. It's funeral doom, but at a faster pace. High echoing effects and weird keyboard noises can be found in this. It speeds up notably at the 4:30 with some sped up riffs. As the song reaches the end, the stoner feel comes back in a lead until it goes off into a storm of confusing notes/noise to end the song suddenly in a jolt.

At long last, we arrive at the 26 long behemoth known as "Awaiting My Death". Surprisingly, there's no weird ambiance or noise in the intro. Instead, the stoner funeral doom is present right from the beginning. Spacey ambiance and weird effects on the guitar are present for a good amount of this song at the beginning giving it a more relaxing feel. I do like it, but I was really hoping for another disturbing song like "Bereft" the first time I listened to this. It's a slight disappointment, but this funeral stoner doom metal still is very worthy of listening. It eventually goes away around the later end of the five minute mark to soon be replaced by keyboard sounds and the introduction of the vocals into the music. Though not as menacing as I've said before, the music does send the listener into a trancey environment looking at stars and the like. Rhythm changes are present throughout and are most certainly welcome. What else is welcome are the other anomalies such as guitar leads, noise and keyboard ambiance.

I didn't think too highly about this album at first until I received the epiphany I got from Funeral's 'Tristesse'. Now, I've really warmed up to this album. The two longest songs are the best with my preference leaning toward "Bereft". It's definitely an album to listen to at night, and in fact, doing so with "Bereft" was a scary experience. That is how awesome that single song is. Imagine what would happen with the rest of this album...