The Esoteric - With the Sureness of Sleepwalking

Given my recent review of The Esoteric's Subverter, I thought I'd revisit the band's previous album, 2005's With the Sureness of Sleepwalking (on Prosthetic). I saw this band play last year, and I was blown away. I picked up this album, and was again blown away (you can read an interview I did with the band here). Why these guys aren't huge is beyond me, as they play with passion and creativity that shame their more popular peers.

The Esoteric are hard to categorize; perhaps that's why they're still relatively unknown. Members of the band have been in Coalesce, Reggie and the Full Effect, and Today Is the Day, and singer Steve Cruz' interest in electronic music colors the songs occasionally. Thus, there's a range of influences - metal and hardcore, obviously, but also a uniquely shoegazer sense of melody and harmony.

For me, the latter is the key to the band. The Esoteric do the Botch/Converge thing as well as anyone, but their songs reach for something higher. The chords have harmonic content that's far more emotional and sophisticated than the usual jagged dissonance. "Your New Burden" crosses Swervedriver with Tool, while "Somnambulist" has magnificent suspended chords.

The Esoteric - Your New Burden
The Esoteric - Somnambulist

There's also a nice video for "Ram-Faced Boy":



Seriously, every time I hear this album, I feel better about the human race. If people can make something like this, they can't be all bad, right? If you agree, pick this up at Prosthetic or The End.