A Pyrrhic Existence | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 8 November 2019 | |||
Venue | Birmingham, United Kingdom [1] | |||
Studio | Priory Recording Studios | |||
Genre | Funeral doom | |||
Length | 98:15 | |||
Label | Season of Mist | |||
Producer | Esoteric | |||
Esoteric chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from A Pyrrhic Existence | ||||
A Pyrrhic Existence is the seventh studio album by the British funeral doom band Esoteric. Just like the two previous albums before it, A Pyrrhic Existence is a double album. It was released on November 8, 2019 through Season of Mist.
A Pyrrhic Existence is Esoteric's final studio album featuring founding guitarist Gordon Bicknell, who left the band prior to its release.
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Blabbermouth | [4] |
Metal Injection | [5] |
Metal Storm | Positive [6] |
Rock Hard | [7] |
A Pyrrhic Existence was released to positive reviews. Blabbermouth called lead single "Descent" an instant highlight, stating that when Greg Chandler's vocals "burst through the fog at the three-and-a-half-minute mark, it's like the voice of some fearsome, hateful deity resounding through thick storm clouds to the Earth below". [4] Jerome Reuter of Metal Injection notably gave the album a perfect score commenting on how Esoteric have once again set the bar high by releasing a double album with no filler. He ended his review saying "A modern Greek tragedy told in six parts, it's nothing short of a theatrical masterpiece". [5]
Publication | Accolade | Rank | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
Stereogum | Best Metal Albums 2019 | 5 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Descent" | 27:39 |
2. | "Rotting in Dereliction" | 15:51 |
3. | "Antim Yatra" | 4:40 |
Total length: | 48:10 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Consuming Lies" | 15:16 |
2. | "Culmination" | 19:03 |
3. | "Sick and Tired" | 15:46 |
Total length: | 50:05 Total 98:15 |
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, featuring double kick and blast beat techniques; minor keys or atonality; abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes; and chromatic chord progressions. The lyrical themes of death metal may include slasher film-style violence, political conflict, religion, nature, philosophy, true crime and science fiction.
Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres. Both the music and the lyrics are intended to evoke a sense of despair, dread, and impending doom. The genre is strongly influenced by the early work of Black Sabbath, who formed a prototype for doom metal. During the first half of the 1980s, a number of bands such as Witchfinder General and Pagan Altar from England, American bands Pentagram, Saint Vitus, the Obsessed, Trouble, and Cirith Ungol, and Swedish band Candlemass defined doom metal as a distinct genre.
Bilocate is a dark Oriental metal band from Amman, Jordan, founded in 2002 by Ramzi Essayed, Waseem Essayed and Hani Al Abbadi. The band's style combines doom metal, death metal and black metal with Oriental elements.
Paradise Lost is an English gothic metal band that formed in 1988 in Halifax, considered to be among the pioneers of the death-doom genre, and regarded as the main influence for the later gothic metal movement. Bands that have cited Paradise Lost as an influence, or have covered them, include My Dying Bride, Anathema, The Gathering, Amorphis, Cradle of Filth, Katatonia, Moonspell, Lacuna Coil, HIM, Nightwish and many others. As of 2005, Paradise Lost have sold over two million albums worldwide.
Esoteric is an English funeral doom metal band from Birmingham founded in 1992. Releasing seven studio albums, and a demo, the band is widely regarded as among the first groups to develop the funeral doom style. The band has named a variety of groups as influences, such as metal bands Morbid Angel and My Dying Bride, more "trippy" artists such as Pink Floyd, Spacemen 3, and King Crimson, and the industrial and dark ambient genres.
Subconscious Dissolution Into the Continuum is the fourth studio album by the British doom metal band Esoteric. It was released on 28 June 2004 through Season of Mist records, and is engineered, mixed and mastered by Esoteric at Priory Recording Studios. Artwork by Chris Peters.
Metamorphogenesis is the third studio album by the British doom metal band Esoteric. It was released in August 1999 through Eibon records.
The Pernicious Enigma is the second studio album by the British doom metal band Esoteric. It was released in 1997 through Aesthetic Death Records. The Pernicious Enigma comprises two discs with a total running time of an hour and 55 minutes.
Epistomological Despondency is the first studio album by British doom metal band Esoteric. The album was released in 1994 as a double CD through Aesthetic Death Records, and was remastered and reissued in 2004. In a retrospective article written about the album by Metal Injection editor Cody Davis, the album "built Esoteric's foundation in funeral doom."
Esoteric Emotions – The Death of Ignorance is the debut demo album by the British doom metal band Esoteric. Noted for its usage of effects pedals, something not commonly used in metal music up to that point in time, the demo would obtain the attention of independent label Aesthetic Death, who issued the band's first two albums Epistemological Despondency and The Pernicious Enigma. The demo was released by the band in small runs on cassette only, and in 2000 it was reissued on CD-R through the band, though bootlegged versions exist of this edition. The demo would see an official CD release in 2017 through Aesthetic Death Records as part of the band's 25th anniversary.
Mournful Congregation is a funeral doom metal band from Adelaide, South Australia, which was founded in 1993, and has included members of Chalice, Cauldron Black Ram and Esoteric.
The Maniacal Vale is the fifth studio album by the British funeral doom metal band Esoteric. It is a double album and was released on 26 June 2008 through Season of Mist records. Engineered, mixed and mastered by Esoteric at Priory Recording Studios. Artwork by Kati Astraeir.
The Dust of Years is the third studio album by the British Christian metal band Seventh Angel, released on 24 June 2009 on Bombworks Records. A comeback album, The Dust of Years is the band's first studio album since 1992's Lament for the Weary. While the style continues on Seventh Angel's trademark thrash and doom metal sound, the vocals are death growls as opposed to the previous thrash metal shouts. The album was produced by Esoteric member Greg Chandler who also contributed some growls. The cover art was done by Matt Vickerstaff of Darkwave Art.
Insomnium is a Finnish melodic death metal band formed in Joensuu in 1997. The sound and lyrical themes of their music portray darkness, sorrow, loss, pain, and nature. They are primarily a melodic death metal band with occasional elements of doom metal and progressive metal.
Paragon of Dissonance is the sixth studio album by the British doom metal band Esoteric. It is a double album and was released in 2011 through Season of Mist Records. A two-disc vinyl edition of the album was released through Finnish label Svart Records on 25 April 2012.
Killer Be Killed is an American heavy metal supergroup founded by Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato and Soulfly frontman Max Cavalera in early 2011. The lineup also features Mastodon bassist and co-vocalist Troy Sanders and Converge drummer Ben Koller. The band had slowly been working on material before announcing its name in October 2013, along with their signing to Nuclear Blast. The group's self-titled debut record was released on May 13, 2014. On September 4, 2020, the group returned with a new single, and released their second album Reluctant Hero on November 20, 2020.
Ævangelist are an American death metal/black metal band that integrates avant-garde and experimental elements into their music. The band is primarily composed of Ascaris and Matron Thorn, though additional musicians take on drum and guitar duties for live performances. The band was formed in 2010 by Ascaris and Matron Thorn and they have released four full-length albums and five EPs to date.
City Burials is the eleventh studio album by Swedish heavy metal band Katatonia. The album continues the progressive rock direction used in recent albums while returning to some of their earlier metal instrumentation. Three singles were released in promotion of the album; "Lacquer", "Behind the Blood", and "The Winter of Our Passing".
This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 2021.
Stare into Death and Be Still is the sixth studio album by New Zealand death metal band Ulcerate. The album was officially announced on 2 March 2020, and was released on 24 April 2020. This album is also the first to be released on Debemur Morti Productions.