Band:	Esoteric
Album:	Paragon Of Dissonance
Style:	Funeral doom metal, Psychedelic doom metal
Release date:	November 11, 2011
A review by:	KwonVerge

Disc I
01. Abandonment
02. Loss Of Will
03. Cipher
04. Non Being

Disc II
01. Aberration
02. Disconsolate
03. A Torrent Of Ills

Being around for almost 20 years, Esoteric never were in a hurry to release as many albums as they could every 1-2 years. For some artists the burden of the aforementioned title is grandiose and they'd never exchange not even a bit of their quality for quantity. Esoteric belong to this group, they always took their time to bring together the main concept of every album and place in the right place at the right time all the ideas and emotions that were overrunning them at the time. And whenever it felt right a new work was coming our way to cleanse the band's world and torment the audience with all this sense of decay, horrid beauty and decomposition of morals transformed into vast fields of devastating soundscapes. So, almost 20 years of existence gave birth to 6 abhorrent children, with the successor to the throne being the newborn Paragon Of Dissonance, from the same septic womb, with the same unearthly stare, but with its very own personality and characteristics.

This time Esoteric depict a different mask of the same lurking plague: the face is still the same, it's the outer contours that are dressed up for the occasion. The once omnipresent erupting hatred and diametric negativity have surrendered and vibes hiding deep inside have come to the surface. Paragon Of Dissonance stands undressed; no more will to keep inside all the internal affairs that had been boiling for years now. It's all about a sincere meltdown and it's everywhere; not only breathing through the lyrics but also unveiling through the music as well. There's no shame in a confession, only purity.

They live up to the soul-crushing and devastating standards they set from their very beginning, what differs is the prism through which the overall atmosphere is being filtered. Paragon Of Dissonance is more gracious and fragile than its predecessors that were remorseless whenever given the chance; and they had their chances quite often. Intensity still lingers inside these sound corridors and it's being faceted through exploding introvert bleakness. The overburdened ambiance won't cease existing but what the band's trying to achieve and succeeds in has to be the fact that they can always relent to moments of well-conceived and well-executed melody. This works as some kind of release for both the band and the listener and lends a story-flowing factor at same time. Even the song titles consist of a natural flow as they march one after the other in a row.

The guitars play a major role in the ambiance factor either with their heavily distorted lurking aesthetic or the diving leads and soloing ideas that possess an Anatolian air at times and the overwhelming melodies that escort your soul to your very own imaginary asylum. The effects, the slight but spot on keyboard glimpses and the echo evoke depth and a sense of mystery whereas the concurrent entrance per musical meter of the imposing drum beat and percussion alongside the devastating grunts deliver both intensity and emotional charge. It's a devouring state of constant clarity; rewarding, entrusting, captivating. Everybody's pouring himself in the overall outcome; from Greg Chandler's entrancing interpretation to his combo with Jim Nolan on the guitars and Mark Bodossian's (of Mournful Congregation, Pantheist fame) dreary pulses as an ensemble to Joe Fletcher's unerring, imposing, and creative drumming.

Paragon Of Dissonance clocks over one hour and a half and as expected, it consists of two discs that set sail on pleasing both the senses and the ears of the funeral doom/death community. Esoteric managed once again to secure their sound perimeter by forging a giant with a heart made of sand, devoured slowly by the hourglass of time.