Esoteric by Khariot

Gavin Foo - Vocals / Guitars / Bass
Michael Rule - Drums / Percussion

‘Esoteric’ is the evolution of the Khariot's experimental death metal chaos, implementing new sounds & songwriting techniques and linking lyrically and conceptually to its predecessor ‘Disymposium’.

Gavin Foo & Michael Rule, the 2 remaining members of the original lineup from Perth, Australia; have taken on all recording duties to provide 7 songs with their signature sound of chaotic riffs and progressive odd-time signatures.

*ESOTERIC will only be available digitally, any support is greatly appreciated.
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"Time for some really strange death metal from Australia that rules. Khariot just dropped their new full-length, Esoteric, on January 23rd. Not only is the music completely bone-chilling and entrancing, but once heard, it boggles the mind that this album was mainly a two-man effort, consisting of Gavin Foo on guitars/vocals/bass and Michael Rule on drums/percussion. I did ask the band, who confirmed that two of the songs on here were written by the band’s fuller line-up though.
Khariot have gleaned many good ideas and influences from groups such as Ulcerate, Gorguts, and Deathspell Omega in spots, yet they transcend mere carbon-copy status. Give it a listen and you’ll agree. In spite of being flooded with things to review, I can’t put this record down.
My personal favorite is the over 8-minute act of acute decimation that is “Hydra”, a multi-headed beast that perfectly resembles the insanity imagined by its title, though the band’s personal favorite (from what they told me) is “Infinite, Intrinsic Eye”, a point with which I can’t argue because that track is phenomenal as well.
Truly, Esoteric has everything you could want in a multi-faceted death metal record: a million menacing riffs, memorable morbid melodies, skronky structures, blasts for days, haunting grooves, bellicose vocal exorcisms, and laser-sharp twisted songwriting. Esoteric is oddly infectious; give in to the madness within."
Austin Weber @ No Clean Singing / 2nd February 2015
http://www.nocleansinging.com/2015/02/02/recalcitrant-round-up-in-lieu-of-islander-part-1/

"Australian death metal has been flickering in and out of existence relying mostly on the behemoths Psycroptic to keep it floating since Alchemist dropped out early surrendering to their abstract spacey landscapes; and partially on Mortification and Alarum whenever those two felt like deathing rather than thrashing. However, in recent years things have started to change for the better Down Under, both in terms of quality and quantity. Aeon of Horus, Infinitum, Grotesque, A Million Dead Birds Laughing, Infinite Density, Befallen, Mephistopheles, DeathFuckingCunt, The Ritual Aura, Disentomb, In the Burial, Khariot… these are some of the new talented outfits who are determined to make their motherland a major player on the death metal arena in the new millennium.
Khariot are one of the distinguished representatives of this new wave with two outstanding albums so far in their discography. The band are essentially a duo the guys having done service in the extreme progressive metal formation Noctis, and the short-lived technical death metal outfit The Alchemont. The guys came splashing on the scene with “Disymposium” in 2011, a very complex labyrinthine work of super-intricate rifforamas and enigmatic atmospheric currents, an eye-opener even on an oversaturated, with all kinds of marvels and “atrocities”, field like the death metal one siding with other undecipherable, mind-stimulating opuses like Crimson Massacre’s “The Luster of Pandemonium” (2005) and Anata’s “The Conductor’s Departure” (2006). There’s something unfathomable, ephemeral in the band’s delivery which is hard to describe except maybe with the title of the instrumental masterpiece from the debut “Cacophony of the Insane” although underneath these seemingly chaotic, impromptu-like sceneries one can by all means detect very precise, premeditated organization.
I was quite bemused by the guys’ first coming, but since they never released an immediate follow-up, I put them in the registers as the next in line impressive one-album-wonder, but never forgot about them playing this recording every other week. Besides, there was no way the guys would have pulled out another extraordinary multi-layered “symphony” like this one once more… I was sure of it, and gradually stopped checking for any news from their camp.
Then suddenly in 2015 this Australian chariot… sorry, khariot, was heard roaring down the cobbly metal “pavement” bringing another “fruit”, the album reviewed here. Esoteric stuff by all means as indicative from the album-title, showing the band in a very inspired form again, producing another state-of-the-art mind-boggler for the more or less prepared masses. The instrumental “Astralign” is an atmospheric surreal shorter sounding as though the guys have decided to swing towards the futuristic panoramas of Alchemist; there’s nothing bad about that; it’s just that this was apparently going to be another “death metal diversification” effort with which the scene has started filling up recently… Fortunately, that’s not the case; the moment the following “Hydra” commences with these beautifully chaotic riff-patterns and the hectic fast-paced insertions, the listener has no choice but to lo and behold another mesmerizing musical “cacophony” which throws everything at him from the technical/progressive death metal arsenal within 9-min including a few modernized sterile strokes with echoes of Terminal Function and Unreal Overflows’s “False Welfare”. It nicely sums up what the debut was about by also setting the tone for the remainder to “tune in” to.
And the remainder doesn’t disappoint; it pulls out “Katharsis” first, a short mechanical shredder with frequently changing tempos creating dense dissonant miasma which flows into the balladic intro of “Infinite, Intrinsic Eye”, a heavy stylish atonal stomper at the beginning gradually accelerating with dispassionate abstract proto-blasts the latter dispersed by creepy slower technical riffage strangely recalling Demilich, those sidelined later by a virtuous lead section; the unearthly twisted doominess persists, though, and returns to take the lead once again enriched with jarring robotic rhythms ala more recent Ulcerate and Gorguts’ “Obscura”. “Rephormulated Paradox” will stretch the fanbase’s nerves with a sprawling ambient intro, but patience will be richly rewarded as the guys pile a myriad of mazey, mind-scratching riffs which overlap in a seemingly random fashion with eerie reverberations surrounding the riff “salad” which gets entangled to a point of no return in the second half with grandiose vortexes recalling progressive metal giants like Watchtower and Deathrow. “A Guilty Conjecture” is just relaxed jazzy progressivisms the band unwinding before the final “labyrinth” which is an actual “Labyrinth” that puts you right into the middle with bursting guitars intertwining recklessly without any second thoughts about getting back to normal later; oddball macabre atmospherics get introduced carved by spasmodic speedy passages “the battle” lasting the whole time until the arrival of the noisy ambient exit.
Absorbed in this engaging, intellect-consuming saga the listener will hardly notice the vocals which are of the unobtrusive low-tuned, guttural death metal type, and assist to their best without any pretensions for stealing the thunder from the marvellously-executed music. The purists will perhaps savour the debut more as it follows the classic death metal canons much more strictly, and is overall the more riff-driven, and also the more technically exuberant recording. However, the effort reviewed here expands the band’s palette into more or less expected directions without discovering new horizons at the same time as this is already a path well trodden by acts like the aforementioned Gorguts, Ulcerate, but also Wormed, Zillah, Beyond the Gates, The Allseeing I, etc. It would by all means keep the death metal fandom engrossed for most of the time, and the lovers of musical chaos will rejoice once again as there are hardly a handful of practitioners at present who can “cook” such complex multi-faceted “symphonies” without messing it up.
“Third time’s the charm”, as people say, and the third coming may as well be the guys’ magnum opus. A gap has been left open for the band to branch out into the unexpected thus leaving the death metal scene behind, or maybe keeping it hanging on the side as the “necessary evil companion”; the chariot has been given “wings” to fly into space. Godspeed; although these ears would still prefer to hear the slowly approaching rattling of a hearse preceded by the unmistakable smell of death."
Ivan Muhov @ Metal Archives / 21st February 2017
https://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Khariot/Esoteric/486201/bayern/81007

"Khariot are a duo from Australia that plays a very brutal, extreme, experimental and progressive form of death metal with some black metal elements and this is a review of their self released 2015 album "Esoteric".
A very dark and atmospheric sound starts off the album along with some clean playing that is also used quite a bit throughout the album and demonic voices which lead up to more of a heavier musical direction and after awhile melodic guitar leads, death metal growls and blast beats become a huge part of the recording and a good portion of the tracks are very long and epic in length.
You can hear a lot of brutal and technical parts in the bands musical style along with a decent amount of melody and the solos and leads the band uses display a great amount of talent and skill and are also a huge highlight of the bands musical style and you can also hear a small amount of high pitched screams being utilized in certain sections of the recording and all of the musical instruments have a very powerful sound to them and as the album progresses, atmospheric sounds are brought into some parts of the songs and towards the end one of the tracks brings in a jazz influence.
Khariot play a style of death metal that is very brutal and extreme while also being very progressive and technical at the same time as well as adding in a touch of grind and black metal, the production sounds very professional for being a self released recording while the lyrics cover philosophical and metaphysical themes.
In my opinion Khariot are a very great sounding, brutal, technical and progressive death metal band and if you are a fan of this musical genre, you should check out this album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Hydra", "Infinite, Intrinsic Eye" and "Labyrinth". 8 out of 10."
OccultBlackMetal @ Variety of Death Zine / 5th February 2015
http://hatredmeanswar4.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/khariotesoteric2015-cd-review.html

"Khariot has a strong experimental edge with some crazy rhythms to go along with their brand of brutality. Strong Mastodon vibe mixed with the technical brutality of Gorguts."
Prog Metal Zone / 5th February 2015
http://www.progmetalzone.com/2015/prog-metal-new-releases-feb-3-2015/

"Some death metal perhaps? Yes Sir! Khariot is a two piece, death metal band from Perth, Australia. ”Esoteric”, which was released on the 23rd of January, is their newest release. Seven tracks are included in today’s album. Now, how would one describe such a record? Progressive death metal or technical death metal perhaps? I can’t say i’m sure. The thing is their music brought me back in the day where bands like Death, Cynic, Sadus and Atheist were huge. In a sense these bands are still huge. But let us get back to the album. The way i see it ”Esoteric” incorporates everything you like in death metal. First of all you’ve got great death metal vocals. I liked their singer’s vocals. Even when this guy growls he does it in a great manner. This album has this cold, dark atmosphere that we first came across with old school death metal. Find in this album excellent riffage and great drumming also. Take for example ”A Guilty Conjecture”. I didn’t expect to find this jazzy rhythm there. But how awesome is that? I think it’s great that there are still bands that play this kind of stuff. Favorite track perhaps? To be honest i don’t want to single out one track here. That’s how i feel. Well, in my attempt to reach a conclusion i would have to say that ”Esoteric” is a really good record. Perhaps album of the month this far. Specially recommended for death metal fans, but not only for them."
Tom @ Tzertzelos / 25th January 2015
https://tzertzelos1.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/khariot-esoteric

I've been following Australian technical death metal act Khariot for some time now and consider their latest record, Esoteric, to be among the finest and most interesting technical death metal releases I heard all year. Khariot specialize in the darker and grimier spectrum of technical death metal, drawing strength and inspiration from Gorguts and Ulcerate in a big way. So this definitely isn't your typical flashy and frenetic tech-death, it's more like a sea of tar and torture whose idea of punishment is closer to suffocating you slowly than anything else. While more and more groups are drawing inspiration from Gorguts and Ulcerate, it takes a very skilled group like Khariot to take influence from them and then make it their own like they do on Esoteric. To me it's additionally impressive that the line-up for this record consists of only two people. Showing yet again that a few creative minds set on doing something different can often trump a full line-up dead set on doing what everyone else is.
Austin Weber @ Metal Injection / 15th December 2015
http://www.metalinjection.net/av/tech-death-tuesday/tech-death-tuesday-endure-50-shades-of-blackened-death-with-the-abstract-and-khariot
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KHARIOT consists of musicians Gavin Foo & Michael Rule.

Chaotic blend of extreme, progressive & death metal.

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