The British Esoteric are one of those truly unique bands. They have very much have a style of their own and I know of no other band that sounds even a bit like them. An for those who do not know them they play doom metal. In advance of their new album – The Maniacal Vale – they commenced a two-week European tour in the basement of the new Dynamo club, with two (more or less) local supports.

More than an hour later than promised the Dutch band Nymphea Aurora picked up their instruments and showcased a good 40 minutes of doom. Even though the music itself isn’t bad, it’s simple and very generic doom/death and executed sloppily; but the thing that bugs me the most are the annoying keyboards. The synthetic sound is repetitive and very dominant. This really screws up any listening enjoyment to me.

The other support act is the Belgian Serpentcult that was formed from the ashes of Thee Plague of Gentlemen and plays similar music. I do not really enjoy their groovy doom metal and the accompanying droning guitar sound. Singer Michelle does her best, but her high voice doesn’t really fit the music too well. Maybe a deep grunt would be an improvement here.

The six guys of Esoteric, three guitarists of whom one sings, a bass player, drummer and keyboard player, filled up the stage with so much equipment there was hardly any place left for them to stand. Nevertheless, after 30 minutes to set things up, the started with Dissident off the Metamorphogenesis album. It could hardly have been any better. A good sound too. They alternated between old songs and songs of the forthcoming album. The good old Creation (Through Destruction) is played too, as well as the brilliant Blood of the Eyes. After the sixth song – Circle, they were finished after playing about an hour and fifteen minutes – yes most of their songs are 10+ minutes long. As usual singer Greg does hardly speak between songs (a mere and soft “cheers” is all we get) and they don’t play any encores. This has been one of the best performances of Esoteric I have seen this far and the new songs sound very promising as well. And what is more, they had the new double CD on sale already as it is only to come out the 16th of June. So obviously I got myself a copy.

Set list:

1. Dissident
2. Beneath This Face
3. Creation (Through Destruction)
4. The Order of Destiny
5. The Blood of the Eyes
6. Circle