Emotion Never Dies: An Interview with Greg Chandler of the Legendary Death Doom Band Esoteric

On this episode of the Endless Metal Podcast, we** are joined by Greg Chandler, one of the founding members of the seminal extreme death doom band Esoteric. The dialogue comes at a very exciting time for the band, as Esoteric prepares to tour Australia for the first time. We also celebrate Esoteric’s return to the U.S. for the first time in eleven years; they perform at the Maryland Deathfest in Baltimore May 23-26, 2024. We cover topics such as Ben’s belief in long form extreme death doom music as classical music, the emotional language of Esoteric through exploring lyrics and listening to select tracks from the band’s most recent album A Pyrric Existence (“Sick and Tired”) as well as The Maniacal Veil (“Silence”)—a monumental record celebrating its 15th anniversary—and Greg’s recent guest appearance on Ahab’s latest record The Coral Tombs (“The Maelstrom”) (among other topics). We are grateful to Greg for joining us from the UK after a very long day working in his studio and only one week out from the band’s Maniacal Pyrronism Tour of Australia.

**Unfortunately, due to rolling blackouts and ensuing confusion, Jeff was not able to join Ben for this interview.