ESOTERIC is a legendary Doom Metal band hailing from (where else?) England.  By the time I got into the band, their 2008 release "The Maniacal Vale," was out so I was a bit late in getting into the band.  As such, I never had a chance to check out their second full length "The Pernicious Enigma", until now when this promo was assigned to me.  Actually, I probably did but I was just being lazy. This time, it has been remixed and remastered to appease the band's taste, as they were never fully satisfied with the way it sounded at the time of the original 1997 release. 
           
So what makes this band, and this album, so legendary? Simple: there were not really other bands that sounded like this at the time.  ESOTERIC were the first to really take the concept of Doom and expand it by adding in previously unheard elements, such as psychedelic atmospheres, spacey chords and keys, and hypnotic tones. Their debut album started it all but this one really perfected and expanded what they were going for.   Basically, if you want to see what it's like doing lots of drugs while lost in a dark cave but are smart and don't want to do that, just listen to "The Pernicious Enigma."  I don't do drugs but was high as a kite while jamming this!  Or just imagine a Metal PINK FLOYD.
           
With two full discs totaling almost two hours of music, I can't review each and every song because I don't have time to write a one hundred page thesis, so I'm going to hit the highlights.  Be aware, though, this album isn't for the faint of heart: if you don't already like this style of Doom then, honestly, just don't bother because you'll either become bored or, perhaps, even afraid.  But if you are a Doom nut like me then grab the rails and hold on tight because even though this album isn't a fast ride, it is a tense and harrowing one that demands much.  If you are a fan of more recent Death/Doom/Psychedelic bands like CONVOCATION and ASSUMPTION, this band and album needs to be on your radar because this is where it was perfected first.
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he first track, "Creation (Through Destruction) begins with creepy and somber keys that also sound spacey and futuristic.  They swirl together with the clean guitar and lumbering drums.  This wall of sound is like a living entity; it perpetually moves forward while growing and absorbing everything in its path.  This goes on for almost five minutes and then some of the lowest and hellish death growls and screams pierce through the void, like an unknown water behemoth coming up to the surface for the first time. Then without warning, the music turns into total Death Metal but it doesn't feel out of place but rather like just another journey on this bleak ride.  As quickly as it begins, it ends and the band slides effortlessly back into the funereal void from which it came.
           
"Sinistrous," starts life has quiet and, perhaps, even gentle but still so cold that the blackness of space seems warm against the tones and growls that sound more like spiteful laughter.   Approaching doom rears its monstrous head with a beastly riff around the four-minute mark.  The last couple minutes of the song are as about as scary and dangerous as sticking your head into some random well found in the middle of a ghost town, stagnate water at the bottom and decayed silhouettes of what used to be finding a way into your head. A little over halfway through the album and the only track under eleven minutes, "At War With The Race", roars ferociously in the form of a Death Metal assault that lasts just under three minutes.  The song is smartly placed where it needs to be to keep the pace of the album going and it makes me wish they made a straight up Death Metal album because they fucking hammer at it hard.
           
The final opus, "Passing Through Matter," is over eighteen minutes long and really destroys all the senses.  The first eight minutes are filled with eerie vocal chants, high pitched screams that sound like a dying man grasping for life itself, inhuman growls, and tripped out keys.  This song basically takes what you heard on the previous tracks but ups it to eleven.  There is a nice romp at the nine-minute mark where the band once again goes into a traditional Death Metal rhythm.   No matter what style these guys play, they always make it work within context of the song.  By the time the song fads out in the end, I was left with a smile on my face.  I was broken mentally and physically but still...I loved every moment of it. 
           
An utter classic that is worthy of all the praise it has received over the years.  This album is the standard of which all Funereal/Drone/Psychodelic/Death Doom stands upon.