[1] Releasing seven studio albums, and a demo, the band is widely regarded as among the first groups to develop the funeral doom style.

In June 1994, Esoteric entered Rich Bitch studios in Birmingham to record six tracks to be released as a double CD, titled Epistemological Despondency.

Halfway through the tour, they were forced to turn back after an injury to Steve's leg made it impossible to continue.

Towards the end of 1997, one day before they were due to depart for a short tour of Germany, Simon (guitar) left the band without warning.

Progress was becoming slow without a full line-up and with increasing work commitments, and the three tracks that were in development over a period of two years were recorded in order to make way for new material; without a permanent drummer, Esoteric was forced to use session drum-work, provided courtesy of Keith York.

This was done in intervals over a period of time spanning across the rest of the year and into 2003, using session work (as with their previous album) involving Keith York on drums and Trevor Lines on bass.

In addition, Olivier Goyet joined the band to perform on the keyboards which allowed them to better orchestrate their material in a live environment, where the use of an extra instrument has become necessary to emulate the complexity of the studio recordings.