Lista de Bandas Funeral Doom Esoteric (UK) The Maniacal Vale

UK doom titans Esoteric return with their fifth album of leaden, cathartic bludgeon, a two disc, one hour forty minute trawl through the darkest regions of your mind. It certainly is not the type of album that you put on for a party, or even for friends probably, but one that you need to experience on your own, in a quiet room with only your mind for company. Not since Burning Witch’s Crippled Lucifer album have I experienced such an enclosing, hellish atmosphere generated by music. It is a form of music that overwhelms you not by flair, musicianship or lyrical content, but by pure sound, atmosphere and malevolence. And boy is The Maniacal Vale malevolent. With seven tracks spanning the two discs, it opens with the monolithic Circle, which spreads over your aural sense like a thick tar, and yet its monotonous-by-definition rumble remains remarkable engaging. It isn’t necessarily typical of this type of doom however, with the customary piercing screams replaced by an inhuman growl and moments of pace, such as in the crushingly heavy Caucus of Mind , amongst the sludge also breaking up the crawl. Around 13 minutes of the opening track it reaches a veritable climax of anguish, descending into an unsettling ambience that is present throughout the album and which helps to create the atmosphere. This is then crushed a mere three minutes later with a sledgehammer riff and therein lies a piece of magic in this album; it finds a balance between these atmospheric sections and the slow-burn of the riffing that leaves neither in the forefront, neither more prevalent. Each section of each track complements each other beautifully, seeping into each other in such an effortless fashion that the difference is barely noticeable above your appreciation. Gentle melodies open Silence, a wonderfully expressive moment that would not seem out of place in a Dream Theater or Opeth track, Beneath This Face explodes into furious blackened riffing before slipping back into the more funeral pace, and Ignotum Per Ignotius possesses some fine ambient work. Quickening opens with plaintive leads that emphasise the melancholic nature of the album, and it’s the track I feel that truly captures the feel of the entire album in its 12 plus minutes. If there ever was a more appropriate album cover for an album, I’d be surprised, as it truly feels like you are being subjected to the torturous twist and maul of the hellish void represented in the artwork. But if dark, sludgy and truly heavy doom is your thing, this should definitely be on your watch list.