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Esoteric
Being know as a band
playing a form of very deep, drug - influenced, tortured Doom, Esoteric from
the United Kingdom have been one of my personal favourites since I got a
package which included a first effort, "Esoteric Emotions - the death of
ignorance"...
How to describe so much hate, so much depressive feelings banned on a ordinairy
(?) cassette...
And... how to describe the music of their debut douple-cd, being even more
depressive, more hateful and tortured...
IMPOSSIBLE! Well, and due to the fact that there are still people who never
heard from this band, I'd like to introdude ESOTERIC to you with this
interview. Greg was so kind to answer my questions...
Greetings... well, hos is
life in Birmingham at the moment?
"Ave. Life i Birmingham is and always has been completely fucking shit,
because of the fucking people, authorities, Christians, and slef-righteous,
moralistic bastards, and sheep who populate this shit city. My life is not so
bad, I somehow manage to isolate myself from their oppression, and enjoy life's
greater pleasures. I'm just fucked off witht the fucking people who try to
impose on me and enforce their pathetic laws and judgement upon me. I harm none
who don't harm me (either physically, mentally, circumstancially etc.), and I have
an insumountable amount of hatred for those who interfere me with my life. It
is unnecessary. I do not have any bad or detrimental effect upon them by what I
do (unless they interfere with me), so their interference is just
self-righteous, and conceited. What gives them the rigth to tell me what to do,
how to dress, how to life my life (That's a point I absolutly agree with! -
ed.)? What gives them the rigth to judge me and condemn me for being different
to them? It is just their delusion that they are superior, and that their way
of life, standards etc. is the best way and the only way. If they are superior,
then why do they fear me so much that they want to destroy the person who has
no effect on them (when unprovoked)? They are weak, insecure, bastards who hide
behind laws to protect them from the consequences of their actions. The
consequences of their interference is my revenge, and no social, legal, or any
form of law can protect them. I always take revenge, because I know their weak
points - their minds"
Well, this was the rigth
introduction to start the interview...At first, could you give me and the
readers a brief history of Esoteric please...
"Esoteric formed in July 1992. We'd had a stable line-up since March 1993
until recently, when we dismissed Darren (drums) and Stuart (guitar) from the
band. We recorded our first demo in July 1993 on 24-tracks. It's 82 minutes
long, containing eight songs. It is titled "Esoteric emotions - The death
of ignorance", and is still available. We recorded our debut album on
AESTHIC DEATH RECORDS in June 1994, and it was released in the last week on
July. It's 89 minutes long, on double-cd format, containing six new songs. It
is titled "Epistemological Despondency". Currently we are looking for
replacements for the two departed member."
As for the debut-demo,
"Esoteric emotions...". I think it's a quite long debut...82 minutes!
What has been the reason for such a long demostration cassette?
"The reason we recorded eigth songs for the demo was simply because we had
eight songs written at that time, and we wanted to record them because we liked
them very much, and felt that they had their own style and feel, and were
different to each other in many respects. We weren't concerned with the playing
time - the more songs, the better, as far as we concerned, because we wanted to
have those songs recorded for ourselves to listen to, regardless of any
criticism of the length of the songs or demo. Whenever someone goes beyond the
limits of what is considered to be "normal", there is always at least
a few (often many) who say "It's not rigth to do that. No one else does
it". To them, because it isn't "normal" they can't begun to
understand it, because it would involve thinking for themselves, and breaking
the chain of preconceived ideas and prejudices that have been conditioned into
them by society, goverments, authorities, religions etc., etc. I don't care
about the opinion of sheep. They either follow the shephard or fall prey to
thhe wolves."
And...how has been the
response from the public, so far?
"So far, the response has been really good. We've had many positive
reviews, with relatively few criticism (other than of the lenght of the playing
time, songs and tempo being too slow - to slow for what? Certainly not too slow
to express deep, dark emotions, and evoke feelings from the careful listener.
That's my opinion anyway). We haven't had any bad reviews. Most of the feedback
we've had has been excellent, and many people who bought the demo have already
bought the d-cd. It's originality has been acclaimed as a prominent aspect, by
all who've heard it."
As for the band's
music...I think Esoteric are doing something I never heard of before. It's
original, fresh, but also slow and depressive....drug-influenced, tortured
Doom?
"Yes, I agree, and so have others. It is a journey through the subconcious
realms of pure hatred and misery. The power of the sound and the emotions can
be agonizingly mind-debilitating. It is barbaric in heaviness, and yet frlows
with the presence of life. It exists. It's as simple as that. Those who can
relate to it and look closely anough will see what I mean. I have no time, nor
space, to further my opinions, therefore my answers to each question are only a
mere example or summary of my thougths on each question."
Your debut,
"Epistemological Despndency"...an album you are really satisfied
with?
"Yes, we are totally happy with the result. It is actually 89 minutes
long, and is released on d-cd format. It said 78 minutes on our pre-realeased
flyers, because that was out rough estimate previous to the recording. We're
happy with the sound, the recording, music lyrics, artwork, and everything . We
only had 45 hours to record and mix the whole thing (over 9 evenings), so we
had to plan everything meticolously. Everything went as calculated. We always
take prite in our personally evocative creations and make them as professional
as possible"
Are there a lot of
differences between your demo and the album? Let's say more atmospheric, more
depressive sounds and melodies?
"There is quite a difference between the demo and the d-cd. We use a lot
more effects on the songs on the d-cd (which turned out very good! - ed.), and
the songs carry more atmosphere and subtleties. They are also more diverse,
with some even more powerful depths of emotion. We had a lot more time
recording the d-cd that we did with the demo, so we were able to get a sound
and production that was exactly as we wanted it, whereas we were too short with
the demo."
How is it possible for
your to create, to compose music like Esoteric do? Do you have a main sonwriter
within the band?
"We write our music as a transposition on the lyrics. We write the lyrics,
and then write the music that is most expressive of, and evocative to the
emotions and words in the lyrics. The music is calculated to what we want to
hear - we write music for ourselves, first and foremost. The main songwrite are
myself, Gordon, Bryan, and Simon. The two recently departed members didn't
write anything."
Could you guve us a short
description to the following new tracks:
Benefit: "is 20 minutes long. It is very visual, and in places it captures
the intensity of ritualized emotional release, in a very powerful manner. Some
people are disturbed by these parts. It is mostly very slow, and full of dark,
tortured and hateful emotions and atmospheres."
Only hate (Baresark): "is 2 minutes and 47 seconds long. It is very fast
song with hateful and majestic atmospheres. The style is quite like jazz fusion
in a very brutal manner."
The noise of depression: "is 19 minutes lont. It is very slow and full of
dark, sorrowful atmospheres, with some agressive elements and sinister sounds.
It is tortured and evocative."
Lamanted despondency"is 12 minutes and 30 seconds long. It is both
hateful, sorrowful and reflective, with deep atmospheres and a variance of
tempo between mid, slow and extremely slow. It is very diverse in style."
Eradification (of Thorns): "is 7 minutes and 20 seconds long. It is very
hateful and sinister, with very barbaric riffs and crushing sounds. It is very
intense and mostly mid-paced."
Awaiting my death: "is 26 minutes 10 seconds long. It is very slow and
full of sorrowful and tortured atmospheres, enchanced by the use of many
effects. It is very visual and "trippy", as all of our songs are. It
is almost operatic in sounds."
What is the most important
point for you...music, lyrics or probably both?
"Both the lyrics and the music are of equal and utmost importance for
us."
Another theme that
interested me...Are you interested in any occult and satanic stuff? It seems if
you're into Crowley's work, if I'm right...
"Yes, we are not merely interested, but we have lived as satanists for
many years now. I am interested in, and have read Crowley's works. We each have
our own individual philosophies and experiences. Our philosophies assilimate
more to those of Anton LaVey that Aleister Crowley also. We do not believe in
any "God" or "Devil", (which would surely be the wrong way!
- ed.) only in freedom indulgence, gratifacation of desires, the attainment of
knowledge and wisdom, thinking for yourself, elevating your mind to higher
mental states and abilities, and greater levels of conciousness and preception.
"Satan" is the archetypal word used to name the dark force on earth,
the natural balance and polarities and indeterminancy of the laws of nature. We
don't believe in imposing restrictions upon things, events, behaviour etc.,
that does not harm other people, or is in revenge of an imposition. We despise
the laws, judgement, interference and moral standarts that Christianlity and
all rigth-hand path religions try to impose on us, and have succeded in
controlling the mings of the masses, and keeping humanity oppressed and
demoralized. We could never conform to their mindless hypocrizy, abstinence,
self-deceit and blind faith. Whenever the bible is disproven to them, such as
with their belief that dinosayr fossils were put on the earth by
"God" to "test their faith". They dismiss the fact that
dinosaurs actually exist, because it doesn't mention them in the fucking bible
(which is supposedly the word of "God" and it is believed that the
earth was created merely 12 thousand years ago, which has also been disproven
by scientific means, such as carbon dating, geological erosion etc.). They try
to justify these massive mistakes (that were written by an omniscient
(all-knowing) "God"?????) by saying "Well, we think
"God" meant to say was..." - altering the interpretations of the
"word of "God". It is this kind og hypocrisy and that oppresses
the vast majority of mankind, and the earth, and it's leaders getting rich from
mis-directing the fucking mindless insecure sheep. This disease will eventually
be rendered powerless. It is already in decline. Humanity is envolving and
progressing at a magnaminous rate, the strong are the lies of the oppressor,
and oppose their pathetic laws. We must progress to freedom, and lives full of
the greater pleasures of life, and of self-awereness. In order to live fully,
we must be free, and I for one am willing to fight, and never will I
surrender."
Speaking about
Crowley...he came from England. England, the land of Shakespeare, the land of
the witches, elves and magicians...do you like living in the United Kingdom?
"Well, in question, I told you what it's like in Birmingham. It's pretty
much the same all over England, unless you have the massive wealth needed in
order to segregate yourself entirely from the rest of the population. As far as
culture goes, our "proud" British race had descended in conquering Britain,
only to be defeated by another race, and so on until recent centuries. I am not
at all proud of the country I live in. It is not "free". That is just
government lie"
Understandable...well,
back to the music once again. Are you often depressed when composing a new
track? Honestly spoken, I often became depressed while listening to your
music...
"When I write music, I am often in a very deep state of emotion, sometimes
of anguish or mosery, sometimes of rage, and so on. My emotions vary a great
deal in depth and variety, and are very intenseß I write lyrics and music as a
form of introspection, and to release my malignant emotions. When I play or
hear this music it evokes my dark emotions and gives me pleasures and release
through the depth of the expression and reality in the music."
Have you ever played live
so far? Are there plans to perform a real show next time?
"Yes, we've played five gigs so far, here in Birmingham. The audience turn-outs
are usally abysmal for any extreme band. This is paramount in the most areas og
England. We may, in the future have some television/monitor screens on stage,
playing videos of "trippy" computer graphics, that Simon creates, and
clips of real, live torture, killing and sado-masochism and violence. I doubt
that we'll use any theatrics. Perhaps a few props, if we ever get enough money.
I'd like to be able to use holographic 3-dimensional images to shoot out at the
audience, causing visual chaos to enhance the music, and maybe some calculated
explosions to scare the shit out of the audience, and create a stormy
atmosphere of emotion. It's unlikely, but possible."
As for the debut album...I
think a important fact is the "freshness" there. It neer becomes
boring, there's always something new, always some new parts, breaks,
effects...important for you, the band?
"Yes, it's very important that each song is different, and that the
dynamics, depth and variety of atmospheres and emotions in the songs are constantly
evolving, progressing towards the end of the song, the end of the journey. The
music evolves, telling of the expression in the lyrics, building up the
intensity towards the end, to potray the aim and goal of the song. The
intensity is a curvacious journey, sometimes sharp, sometimes smooth, with a
vast contrast of dynamics and subtleties."
How do you feel Esoteric
progressing? Are you still being influenced by anyone?
"We're not conciously influenced by any other bands. We are influenced by
our lives, emotions and philosophies, when we write the music."
A last question...what's
is your opinion about the Black metal music? Do you think this style is getting
bigger and bigger, and finally became a new trend after Death metal was
"not of interest" anymore?
"My opinion of Black metal depends upon each individual group. I like a
lot of the more original atmospheric and emotional bands, such as Cradle of
Filth, Bal-Sagoth, Dark Throne, Impaled Nazarene, Fleurity, In the Woods...,
Burzum, Desphulphize etc. However, there are a lot of bands who just imitate
and rip-off the works of the better, more original bands. They have turned
Black metal into a fashion, with as many clitches as any other musical style
that's been categorized. I am annyoed when idiots who obviously have no mind of
their own (or they wouldn't have to copy other bands-monkey see, monkey do)
gain success and credit from the works of the originators. Unfortutely many
people just seem to like whatever is fashionable, regardless of innovation or
creativity."
Anything you have always liked to ask me?
"I'd be interested in hearing some of your philosophies."
(Philosophies...well, there's something I often thought and created my own
ideas about...
Why does the human of
the 20th century still owe a brain? If I take a look at the people around me, I
can't believe seeing the ignorence and idiotism everywhere! The modern human
seems to be totally controlled by television/mass-media, spending his weekends
with drinking tons of alchohol, defame others or talking about the
"ancient" times...
It seems to be impossible, at least in my area, to find anyone being able to
talk in a serious way, being able to discuss (I luckelly found ONE single
person nine years ago, and well, he is really intellegent human, using his
brain instead of talking shit!)!
I can't understand why humans do not use one of themost perfect organ nature
gave them...the brain. The capicity of a single brain is so enormous, that a
computer had to be 100 floors high, with a level of 700000 km2, to do
everything a human brain does!
Einstein said that most humans only use 10 percent of the capacity...why? If
everyone would spend more time with collecting information, with discussing and
creating, I'm sure that this world would be much better than it is today. There
would be no war, no death, and no hunger, because we would finally SEE with our
own eyes what we are doing to ourselves and the world around. We destroy
ourselves 'coz too many seem to be dumb and blind, being unable to control
their own feelings and emotions. I only have to take a look at those I called
"friends" in the past, spending their whole time with beer, always
telling me that "I only do have a job because I need money to have a lot
of fun"... Of course; I guess everybody needs some fun. talking shit and
being drunk sometimes, just to forget and to relax. Understandable...I
sometimes do the same...why not? It's amusing, it's funny!
But...I don't want to be one of them forever. I am getting older, and I don't
want to waste my time. My life is short, and there is so much to learn, hour by
hour, day by day...
My generation seems to be full of "not being intersted in anything"
humans, at least here in Germany, because we are so satisfied with our
comfatable life! I don't wanna be one of those loosers! I exist to create, to
form, to build...
Witchcraft is one of the results of my work. I created this magazine, as it
seems to be my only chance to show the people outthere the visions and ideas I
created. My greatest satisfaction is to see that they accept my work, and that
they bring in new ideas, and new information I can use to get better... -ed)
This is the end...anything
to add, my friend?
"No final comment. We only give opinion when asked. Thank you very much
for this intelligent interview, Stefan (thanks to you for the time you spend
with answering my questions! - ed.). Your support is appreciated." For
information or merchandise write to:
ESOTERIC
19 Fairmead rise
Kings Norton
Birmingham
b38 8Bs
England
Demo - 3 pounds UK, 6$
Europe, 7$ rest of the world
D-CD - 10 pounds UK, 18$ Europe, 20$ r.o.w.
all prices include postage