Review of Farsot - III

Synopsis:

As part of the recent licensing deal with Prophecy Productions, Lupus Lounge is giving us another shot at excellent releases from Helrunar, Drautran and the least impressive of the three, Farsot’s III.

Review:

Mysteriously named (the band members are called 3818.w, Pi: 1T, v.03/170, 10.XIXt and R 215k) and themed, Germany’s Farsot are a bit different from the Folk/Viking/Pagan strains of label mates Helrunar and Drautran (which I HIGHLY recommend), following more progressive black metal hues, which essentially means traditional black metal (clinical tremolo picked riffs, screeched vocals, cold blast beats, some mid paced wandering, some acoustics) with plenty of ambience and interludes (“Hass – Angst”, “Angst – Tod”, and “Tod – Trauer”). And not the scrawling, self loathing style of ambience, but rather a random (there’s choirs in “Tod – Trauer”), programmed sort of ambience, that really doesn’t add that much to the underwhelming if competent black metal.

Not as experimental or far out as some would have you believe, Farsot do seem to have a heavy Fleurety influence (especially in the bass lines), but as a whole, the end result is no more experimental than say fellow Germans and label mates Secrets of the Moon, but not quite as good yet, and a little more pretentious. The lengthy songs are varied and well played with plenty of skill and a mix of tenacity and intelligence, but, it's not quite ‘there’ yet as far as staying power.

That being said, twenty minute closing track “Thematik-Trauer” shows the band has a little more direction and focus from greatness, as it seems to contain the necessary mix of superb, slicing riffage, moody acoustics, tempo changes (the haunting piano break at 9:35 is exquisite) and overall aesthetic that indicates, when the band is ‘on’, they seem capable of rubbing shoulders with the elite. It's just that the previous six tracks don’t seem to have this affect, and thus Farsot may be an album or two away from being truly considered one of the elite.

The potential is definitely there and I will be sure to check out the next effort with baited breath to see if they fulfill that vast potential.

Release Details

Farsot

III

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