To talk about profilic musicians in the vast metal underground, we’re are blessed to have the choice that we do! The list of excellence comes on and on from all angles with names old just as powerful and influential as plenty of the newer names that come around to show us what can still be done with Esoctrilihum more than enough to be qualified as part of the latter. Having become a true tour de force of the underground over the last six years since its fateful debut, it’s bewildering to be to see how far the name has come and the sheer status the very name has achieved in that time. Since 2020, however, the gloves are off now more than ever for Esoctrilihum with this newest creation the start that 2023 didn’t know it needed as well as a new path for Esoctrilihum to let forth its overwhelming chaos.
The independent release schedule of Esoctrilihum has only been growing since putting out “F’htansg” a little over two years ago with 2022 being the busiest year yet for the act with two full-length albums, an EP, and three singles! Already, Esoctrilihum makes it clear that the status quo is not likely to change with the release of “Funeral” which stands as yet another independent full-length for Esoctrilihum as well as a creation that marks slightly new territory for the band. Just as easily as this new direction could be continued in future release it could be the one outing taken to the maximum, and I don’t think I have complaints about either for it is the virtual entirety of “Funeral” that I’m left wondrously satisfied that every box for an Esoctrilihum effort has been checked off with magnificent competency at every turn with a little bit more to always be found. A much more melancholic approach that feels more melodic than what we’ve seen from this act over the years, the black and death metal elements are still the strong foundation as they’re more than well-honed at this point in Esoctrilihum’s run even as they still leave so much room for experimentation and additional elements to find their way in from one performance to the next. Whether it’s with clean vocals or the implementation of exquisite instruments like the nyckelharpa and the kantele that add so much flavor with a vastly unexpected folk influence that I never once thought I’d see from the likes of Esoctrilihum, but if there’s any single thing I’ve learned after experiencing this band since its very beginnings its that you just can’t ever know exactly what will come next with every subsequent move as interesting in its concept as it is tantalizing in its execution.
We really are in dangerous territory when a name like Esoctrilihum has become as enduring, constant, and breathless as what we see here for some slip is bound to happen or something pops up that doesn’t hit in a way that its predecessors did. And yet, somehow I find myself in a situation that I’ve been in for years now. The very reputation of Esoctrilihum is one that has become integral to the very fabric of the modern state of the underground whether by intent or not, and it’s only with the creation of massive works like “Funeral” that one cannot help but get the sensation that this is still not the end of the line for Esoctrilihum even after all it has accomplished, all that it is has risen to be, and all that it represents for the masses. Somehow, the mighty presence still lumbers forth with the gorgeous yet haunting visages just as aplenty as they were in the beast’s earliest dawns.
LISTEN to “Funeral” on Bandcamp here.
LIKE Esoctrilihum on Facebook here.
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