Farsot - IIII - review

Farsot - IIII - review

Cover image of the reviewed item
Band
Farsot
Album
IIII
Style
Black metal
Release date
October 29, 2007
Reviewer
6.9
7.9
Tracklist
01. Thematik: Hass
02. Hass - Angst
03. Thematik: Angst
04. Angst - Tod
05. Thematik: Tod
06. Tod - Trauer
07. Thematik: Trauer
A review by
Lucas
November 04, 2007
Farsot is a German five-headed Black Metal monster that spawned into this wicked world in 1999 AD. After eight years of sweat and blood and two demos (which are unknown to me), they have finally released their début album "IIII." No, that's not a spelling mistake and yes, that should have been "IV" if they are intended to be Roman characters. It seems to be some sort of tradition of this band to name their music and members with random codes. Their first demo bears the name of "042103Freitod" and one of the band members calls himself 10.XIXt (the vocalist).

Despite all this, the music is hardly as unique as the aforementioned examples. Farsot offers a dark and slightly sad form of well produced Black Metal, with some hints of ambient (the interludes) and acoustic guitars. The problem with this band is that the music itself isn't all that bad: a good riff here and a cold scream there; it just does not "last" long enough. As soon as I've turned off the album I have already forgotten what I just heard. Don't get me wrong, the music itself is rather enjoyable when listening to it, but it doesn't nestle itself in side my head like music should.

Luckily, there is one track that saves this album the grey and misty fields of the average. Taking up roughly half of the album, Themathik: Trauer, contains everything that was good about the previous tracks and a bit more. Strongly relying on Shining with it's dark riffs, the acoustic guitars and the vocals this is easily the best song of the album. It doesn't touch the maniacal madness of the Swedish band, but it is a good attempt.

One could argue whether originality is important, and too which degree. However, doing so will get you nowhere. It is better to state the facts and they are 'IIII' is indeed a pretty strong album, especially for Black Metal fans. I aim my thoughts to the future and will keep track of this band, because they already show a good deal of potential.
Rating breakdown
Performance: 8
Songwriting: 7
Originality: 6
Production: 7
Written on 04.11.2007 by
Written on 04.11.2007 by
If you're interested in extreme, often emotional and underground music, check out my reviews. I retired from reviewing, but I really used to be into that stuff.

Comments

Comments: 8 Visited by 88 users
Queen Of Hippies
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Permalink
04.11.2007 - 21:20
Queen Of Hippies
Account deleted
Haha, i'm being honest here, really, I did listen to the album before you review it, and now I have to listen to it again to be able to post this comment. I couldn't even believe I did listen to it and gave a rating already. And I gave it a good rating. So I couldn't agree more with this review.
Also, the name of the album and the song titles remind me of Shining, so it is not just the music that's similar.
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Damnated
Churchburner

Posts: 4943


Permalink
05.11.2007 - 20:53
Damnated
Churchburner

Posts: 4943


i was surprised to hear an extract from Allegri's Miserere, but disappointed that it wasn't used. it was just there. rather cheap and uninspired, imo. The album overall is forgettable, but still better than half of today's bm.
----
Blessed is he that murders Christ in himself and in his fellow men.



Written by TheBigRossowski on 10.02.2009 at 16:01

if my wife and I can't conceive, I want a medical shipment of your sperm so our baby will be just like you.

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Lucas
Mr. Noise
Elite

Posts: 13427


Permalink
05.11.2007 - 20:55
Rating: 7
Lucas
Mr. Noise
Elite

Posts: 13427


Written by Damnated on 05.11.2007 at 20:53

forgettable, but still better than half of today's bm.

exactly my point
----
SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?

"The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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Opium
Account deleted
Permalink
31.01.2008 - 01:14
Opium
Account deleted
I love this album, I don't care for originality here, the music alone just makes it brilliant, a 9 from me.
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Marcus
Doit Like Bernie

Posts: 647


Permalink
29.04.2008 - 22:44
Marcus
Doit Like Bernie

Posts: 647


Even after reading this review, I expected the music to be somewhat unique, after all, all of their song titles and member names are quite odd. But for the most part, the music does a nice job of mixing up pacing, although it all starts to sound the same in the end. Oddly enough, the album got some pretty good reviews from different sites, and IMO, it deserved more than a 6.9, but I've never heard Shining, so I couldn't comment on originality.
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Permalink
24.04.2009 - 19:11
Rating: 8

Posts: 1370


Don't know why I've never read this before now

However, I feel like it was a little better than that. I even talked with Promonex about them at the show in October.. or September. I still see a glimpse of light from the band and not such direct Shining influences. After all, aren't we ALL allowed to hate life? lol. I'm going to give it a bit better rating.
----
That rug really tied the room together, did it not?
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Lucas
Mr. Noise
Elite

Posts: 13427


Permalink
08.11.2009 - 14:29
Rating: 7
Lucas
Mr. Noise
Elite

Posts: 13427


Checked back on this album a week or two ago. It's getting quite a lot of praise whenever they're mentioned, so I thought maybe I was wrong concerning this band.

But once again I was disappointed by this band. I somewhat liked it when it was playing, but once again, nothing stuck.
----
SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?

"The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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Posts: 38


Permalink
30.07.2010 - 08:10
Rating: 8

Posts: 38


I don't think they sound like Shining at all. Sure, they're also dark and depressing at times, often having a progressive bent, but that doesn't mean it makes them a Shining clone. Far from it. I think this is a really promising debut album from a very talented band. I see Farsot getting better with each new album. As for IIII, it gets a 8 from me.
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