F. D. Schoenthaler 2008-07-26

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Its been a few years but finally a new album from Esoteric. The final verdict is yes its a quality album for doom fans and yes its going to be one of the top doom albums of 2008 but it doesnt stack up to their last album " Subconcious Dissolution ......". This one has more atmosphere and better production with more complex guitars but for some reason even after about 8 listens through this i just dont like it as much as their last. Overall maybe i was expecting a 5 star album from esoteric, im a tiny bit dissapointed since my expectations were way to high to begin with. I was going to give it 3.5 stars but maybe im judging to harshly and give it 4/5 stars.

D. West 2008-07-24

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

This is pretty close. I'll just lay out some accurate adjectives for this album. And the listener can take it from here; massive, hallucinogenic, an almost tranquil underlying melodic beauty, horrifying,dehabilitating,and sincere. No cutting corners on this one. Easily, this is Esoteric's best work to date. By the way, contains excellent "organic" production values. Was reminded of a "Floydian" structure throughout, especially on the first disc. The usual term applied for this is "funeral doom." Never liked that. The Maniacal Vale is Extreme/Physcadelic/Doom. "Highly" reccommended. Don't miss this one.