Esoteric was in the Netherlands and I was quite impressed by their previous show a year or so ago in Tilburg. So it was time to go to Rotterdam to see how’d they pull if off this time.

But first there was Eria D’Or, a local band playing a mixture of gothic and doom metal I guess. I wasn’t really impressed by them as mostly they were a bit dull.

The was bunkur who I had seen before and so I knew what to expect. This time they did have keyboard player tho. I slept through their set mostly as this is as dull as doom can be. One song and 45 minutes with just drums and bass and some keyboards.

Another local, but well-known and well respected band was up next: Officium Triste. They were plagued by a bass player that had broken his ankle in an accident so he sat on stage in a wheelchair. Nevertheless they played a cool set of songs with songs from every album and even an Encore. Like always OT are good live despite the problems with the bass player. Setlist: Inner Twist; Lonesome, The Pathway of Broken Glass, Star dust; In Pouring Rain; The Sun Doesn’t Shine Anymore; and encore Roses on my Grave.

Then finally it was time for Esoteric. With three guitarists on stage, a bass player, a drummer and a keyboard player, the stage was quite full and man did they have a lot of crap on stage. Greg alone had two boards and two pedals on stage and the other guitarists had some stuff too. Well, with Esoteric one knows what one can expect: Only few songs but they all take more than 10 minutes some more than 15 and are slow. But that is doom for you. Five songs were played this time. The three guitars are used effectively to play different parts backed up by clever bass lines. The sound was decent but the vocals were a bit lost in the mix (but maybe that was on puprose as they do that too on their albums). The five songs were taken from various albums, and among it was a new song. All in all a pretty great show. One to space out on without the need for any hallucinogenic substances.