The Esoteric - Subverter
Prosthetic Records
Melodic Metalcore
10 songs (43'52")
Release year: 2006
The Esoteric, Prosthetic Records
Reviewed by Adam
Metalcore has always been a tough genre for me. Most bands that play this style of music are so interchangeable that they become almost irrelevant to my ears. It is only when unique aspects are introduced that I begin to take notice. Unfortunately, most metalcore bands are content to refer to the standard recipe and go by unnoticed by listeners such as myself. Enter The Esoteric, a five-piece group from Kansas. I actually noticed this band by mistakenly thinking their new album, Subverter, was the next classic by UK funeral doom veterans Esoteric. Although I was extremely disappointed to find that this was not the case, I was somewhat pleasantly surprised to find a metalcore album with a fresh approach.

The Esoteric contains former members of Coalesce (guitarist/keyboardist Cory White) and Today is the Day (drummer Marshall Kilpatric), but they a distinct sound which somewhat belies their past endeavors. There are elements of metalcore, namely numerous breakdowns and the vocals of Steve Cruz, but an acute ear will also pick out elements of math metal, melodic metal, and even sludge. This unique formula works at times, and at others falls flat on its face. I’ll start with the redeeming qualities. First, the riffing is generally good, unique and quite technical for a metalcore act. For instance, the variety of guitar work on Clone Culture and the Cut-Up Method would sound right at home on a Mastodon album. The opening riff of Destroy, She Said was effective in sparking my interest and I was pulled further in by the odd time signature. Unfortunately, this is where this band’s worst aspect takes center stage, namely, the vocals of Steve Cruz. While he sounds a bit better than the vomiting, nasal screaming employed by the average metalcore vocalist, his screams are far too monotonous and often sound out of place. A few times, during Shipyards of Foreign Cities for example, Cruz attempts a cleaner vocal approach. While these attempts at change are appreciated and far better than his screaming vocals, they still don’t sound very good. Since I’m already on the subject of poor qualities, I’ll touch on the breakdowns. Quite simply, they are wholly unnecessary. The Esoteric are obviously talented musicians, yet they frequently waste this talent by slamming out simple breakdowns, as heard on Science is Sexy (a ridiculously stupid song title to boot). It is a puzzling approach, to say the least. Almost all the tracks on Subverter suffer from either one or both of these issues.

A decent album suffering from awful vocals and moments of poor songwriting judgment, Subverter is a frustrating listen. While it does differentiate itself from the rest of the metalcore pack through its instrumental flow, I found the aforementioned obstacles too large to overcome. That said, there are positive elements to build on for the future. If The Esoteric can somehow polish up their rather obvious blemishes, they have the ability to lead metalcore in a more audibly pleasing direction.
Killing Songs :
Clone Culture and the Cut-Up Method
Adam quoted 60 / 100
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