Epistemological Despondency is essentially a souped-up version of Esoteric's debut demo, The Death Of Ignorance. What that basically entails is more variety and better songwriting, but similar production and vocal styles (unfortunately, the same grating effects are still around as well). It's a bit long-winded in the first half of this hour-and-a-half album, but songs in the second half, especially closer "Awaiting My Death", definitely justify their length, in this case due to the inclusion of an oddly catchy, hypnotic riff. The diversity is seen in a few tracks that are pretty much death metal played straight, like "Only Hate (Baresark)", and more shifts in the earthmoving riffs on the longer and more monolithic tracks. This improvement in songwriting seen on Epistemological Despondency would really spark Esoteric to create some timeless funeral doom in their best days, as the production improved along with them.
Bump |
