Pivotal Rockordings has pushed back the North American release date for Esoteric, the fourth album from Swedish progressive death metallers SKYFIRE, to October 13th.

The push is due to a scheduling issue and does not affect the UK (September 14th) and European (September 18th) release dates. The album will be distributed via Koch Distribution, in cooperation with Listenable Records. A pre-order package for Esoteric, which also includes a t-shirt, guitar pick and CD opener, is now available at this location.

The 4-song digital-only EP Fractal, released earlier this month, is now officially available for legal download at iTunes, Napster, Amazon and CDBaby among many other digital music stores.

Skyfire spent over 5 years writing new materials since its last release. Unleashed a few months before the band’s full-length magnum opus titled Esoteric, the digital-only Fractal release represents the band’s best material written between 2004 and 2009. Fractal serves to thank longtime fans that have patiently waited for new material with songs that would have otherwise never seen the light of day. Among its four songs is also a preview track from Esoteric aptly titled 'Esoteric' as a taste of the full-length onslaught to follow suit and is also available for listening on the band’s MySpace page.

The songs on Fractal utilize the same epic bombast as Esoteric while simultaneously maintaining the melancholic attitude heard on 2004’s Spectral.

The tracks on Fractal were recorded, mixed and mastered at the band's Powernest Studios with new members Joakim Karlsson (vocals; MARK:BLACK) and Johan Reinholdz (guitars; ANDROMEDA, NONEXIST) with the exception of 'Esoteric' which was mixed and mastered by Jonas Kjellgren (SCAR SYMMETRY, SONIC SYNDICATE, ZONARIA, THE ABSENCE). Fractal not only provides diehard fans with some exceptional songs that would have otherwise never been released, it is also the first taste of new Skyfire material which will be continued on the band’s Esoteric full-length out on October 13th in North America, September 14th in the UK and September 18th in Europe via Pivotal Rockordings.

Esoteric, the follow-up to 2004's Spectral, was recorded at Skyfire's own Powernest Studios in Gothenburg and was mixed and mastered by Jonas Kjellgren. Album art for Esoteric was created by Pär Olofsson (THE FACELESS, PSYCROPTIC, SPAWN OF POSSESSION) with layout handled by CULT OF LUNA’s Erik Olofsson.