Esoteric - The Manical Vale (2008)

This album is a long, strange trip into a dark abyss of negative emotions, and in that way it's very cathartic. It's admittedly a difficult album to listen to, but it's well worth it. It's an extremely valuable contribution to the funeral doom genre, and has been hailed by many as one of the genre's very best. I wouldn't go quite that far, but it is an incredible achievement for the band and a good album to introduce to those who are new to the genre.
8.5/10