The Best Thing I’ve Heard This Week: Vicarious – Esoteria



So apparently the thing that makes me pick up my keyboard again is having so much fun listening to an album and seeing that it has literally zero person who bought it on Bandcamp.
Because that’s the injustice that’s happening right now.
Vicarious seems to be the brainchild of bassist-vocalist Brad Williamson (who has an absolutely wild Youtube channel). Those who’ve been reading this blog for a while will know that I crave good bass. Being a bassist myself, this is hardly surprising—everyone’s a little bit chauvinistic, I guess—but let me sell you on Esoteria.
So, first of all, Vicarious is a progressive metal band describing themselves as “anthemic”, which I guess means they have choruses. Their riffs are groovy and massive, technical in some places but that’s not the main attraction here. Sure, there’s a lot of cool stuff happening on the bass channel, and my attention always gets grabbed, but I wouldn’t call this a “tech” band by any stretch. It’s closer to the truth to say that it’s a modern prog metal band that sounds a bit like Haken, Periphery and the likes, but it’s a real fun ride, and I just wanted to get them more listens because they deserve it. The album’s a whole hour long, and it’s got plenty to offer.