ESOTERIC –

ESOTERIC

Esoteric leverer doom slik doom skal v�re
2004-08-06
Av Ruben

 

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Ruben elsker doom, det er ingen hemmelighet. Og n�r vi fikk tilbud om � intervjue ESOTERIC, var han ikke sen om � takke ja. Vokalist Greg Chandler stod for svarene, som kom pr e-mail.

ET – First of all I want to congratulate you with your latest album, an extremely great record full of good music!
ESOTERIC – Thanks. We are pleased with how it came out. We took our time in every aspect of this album and it has paid off because it has a good balance between the heaviness, clarity and the layers of effects and sounds.

ET – How do you feel about this album yourself?
ESOTERIC – It is difficult to be objective about what you create yourself, especially when it is created to satisfy your own tastes in music. Of course, we are satisfied with it and because the content of the music is inspired by our own psyche, it means a lot to us. Hindsight can always improve some details, but the problem is that there can be a danger of working on a song for too long.

ET – Can you tell our readers about the history of band?
ESOTERIC – Esoteric formed in July 1992. We recorded a demo in 1993 containing eight songs at a running time of 78 minutes. This recording brought about an offer from Aesthetic Death to record a debut album. �Epistemological Despondency� was released on Double CD format in autumn 1994, containing six songs, lasting 89 minutes. 1997 saw the release of �The Pernicious Enigma� D-CD, also with Aesthetic Death. Containing nine songs lasting 115 minutes.
In 1999 we released �Metamorphogenesis� through Eibon Records. This time a single CD release containing three songs, lasting 44 minutes.
On June 28th this year we released �Subconscious Dissolution into the Continuum" through Season of Mist records. This album is 50 minutes long, containing four songs.
We have always played relatively few live shows throughout the bands� history, (mainly due to a lack of a permanent drummer) and have had our fair share of things going wrong on the earlier tours. We have been back to a full strength line-up since summer 2003 with the addition of three new members � Andy Semmens (Drums), Mark Bodossian (Bass), and Olivier Goyet (Keyboards, samples) and we have played a few gigs in the UK and Europe this year, with more to follow later on this year.

ET – I have not heard your earlier albums, how do they separate themselves from this one?
ESOTERIC – The progression between each album and each song is something that is natural and not forced.
It has been 10 years now since the first album was recorded. It is hard for me to describe our development over that time, because when you are so involved in something the changes are gradual and not so obvious. I would like to think that the albums are all different, but with the same esoteric essence throughout.
I usually recommend people who are interested to listen to it and form their own opinions. Different people find different things to compare. The new album is in some ways more direct. The clarity of the production makes the music perhaps more immediate than some of the previous releases, but at the same time, you will hear something new every single time you play it. It is all there (the spacious, hallucinogenic effects), but a little more subtle (if such a word can be used).
All of our albums can be hard listening at first but rewarding to those that persevere.

ET – How do Esoteric separate from the other funeral doom metal acts around the world?
ESOTERIC – Esoteric has always been about confronting and understanding the introspective states of mind and translating these thoughts, emotions and states of being into musical and lyrical forms. It is an expression from within, not something that was ever intended to relate to a scene.
I do not think of music in terms of genres and I do not think of bands in comparison to one another. I listen to music in the hope of finding something that is unique and gratifying in any given way.
We recognise the greatness of other music, but the classification of music and comparisons between bands is something for the media to help describe different music to the public, not something that has anything to do with my way of thinking. I just don�t see the importance of it or how it can really work.
When the concept of Esoteric was formed in 1992 there was no use of the tag �Funeral Doom�. Today�s music will sound nothing like tomorrows music that is given the same name. Music transcends time – genres are a means of marketing music, and for the listener, finding similar styles of music. This is why it becomes difficult to find original bands in the music industry, on whatever level.

ET – When you create your music, what do you think of in the first place? (lyrics, style etc.)
ESOTERIC – The songwriting process comes quite naturally to us. The music is created in much the same way as the lyrics, as an aural painting of what lies within the mind. The atmospheres are created to relive the minds� experiences at various levels. The changes in atmosphere are sometimes severe, sometimes they flow, sometimes it is fragmented and it is all to express the changes in mood and the direction of the mind. Sometimes the lyrics are created first and sometimes the music is. It is always the case that the two should compliment each other and bear an exact relation in order to create a whole that can be greater than the sum of its parts. We do not think of creating a particular style, but more of a way to express with sound, what the mind wishes to express.

ET – What makes you want to create this kind of music?
ESOTERIC – The primary aims were really to fill a gap that we felt was missing in our own search for something different. I remember that back then there were a lot of bands coming out of the woodwork and I was looking for something to listen to that really touched the depths of my psyche. While there were, and are a lot of bands that I find evocative in many ways, there was really nothing that had everything I wanted to hear. In creating ESOTERIC, the goal was to fill that gap. The aspect of self-gratification has been achieved and for me the band became a way of keeping some equilibrium within the mind. To exorcise the darkness within so that it exists at a controllable level. I guess that is why we still exist and have not �mellowed� so to speak

ET – What are your lyrics about?
ESOTERIC – When writing lyrics, it is always a case of trying to express what is within the mind in a way that evokes the senses. Whether it is to convey thoughts, philosophies, past and present experiences, emotions, or whatever levels of consciousness the mind can posses. The lyrics can also be fragmented at times because the mind is not necessarily linear, and they can deal with many different things within one song. They are always related though, even if only by some small link. Some of the lyrics deal with the self, with introspection, with the essence of life, of death and all that inspires the mind to create. They also include observations on humanity, of the world, a will to knowledge, and everything that can make up the psyche. There is no main concept or greater picture that directs the lyrics as a whole on any album we have done. The important thing for me is that the lyrics come from within and are real, remaining true to myself. The lyrics can be found on our website at www.bereft.co.uk. There are a lot of variations in the mood and atmosphere of the music and the lyrics reflect this.

ET – Who and/or what inspires you?
ESOTERIC – I feel that I have already covered this in previous questions. Our aim is for the music to be personal. There is enough music out there that is contrived, created for general consumption. We are not motivated by popularity but by music itself and to make it your own, it has to come from within.

ET – Have you done many concerts?
ESOTERIC – We haven�t done very many over the years, mainly because we have almost always had to rely on session drummers. We gigged more frequently earlier on in the bands history and we have done a few gigs in this last year (since being back to a full line-up), including some shows in the UK and a few gigs abroad in Europe. We got to play alongside and watch a wide variety of bands, which was great. Including Indesinence, While Heaven Wept, Until Death Overtakes Me, Thee Plague of Gentlemen, Pantheist, Mourning Beloveth, and many others.

ET – Will we see much of your band on stage this year?
ESOTERIC – We are currently trying to set up some gigs in Scandinavia for later on in the year and we are arranging some gigs in the UK for late autumn and winter. We are not the kind of band that could fill out venues if we played too often, but we want to keep going out and playing live with some regularity. We enjoy playing this music at destructive volumes!

ET – Any new material done?
ESOTERIC – Yes, we are currently working on new songs for the fifth album. The writing process has been picking up speed as we devote more time and effort to it and so we hope to have the fifth album released within a couple of years. Perhaps it could even be a double CD.

ET – What can we expect from Esoteric in the future?
ESOTERIC – A fucking heavy, dark, twisted album and live set! 

 

ET – Any last words to our readers?
ESOTERIC – Thanks for this interview Ruben. Your support is much appreciated! For more information and to listen to audio samples, visit:
www.bereft.co.uk