Review: Frore 5 Four – Molmolti Volti

Genres: progressive metal, “avant-garde” metal (instrumental)
Recommended for fans of: Tardigrade Inferno, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Art Ensemble of Chicago
Country: Canada
Release date: 1 January 2024

Ah 2023, we collectively bemoaned about the state of progressive metal enough that it’d be beating a dead horse to comment any more on it in my first review of the new year. Needless to say, I’m beyond excited to start reviewing 2024 releases—surely they’ll be better than last year. First, don’t call me Shirley, and second, Molmolti Volti is not the promising start to the year I would have liked; in fact, Frore 5 Four are helping me keep my year’s average score well below sea-level (actually F-level because, spoiler-alert, this isn’t near a 6/10). 

Frore 5 Four have released three albums now, all on New Year’s Day of different years: perhaps they should’ve opted for the first of April to justify unleashing this cruel joke on the world. Playing in the glorious genre of “avant-garde metal,” Frore 5 Four are not close to the avant-garde, instead playing a headache-inducing distorted circus music. The real avant-garde takes skill and vision: Frore 5 Four have offensive production, annoying timbres, overlong songs, and a distinct lack of compositional skill.

Shall we start with Molmolti Volti’s composition? Each track—save for the ambient outro—hovers between six to eight minutes long with exactly two minutes worth of ideas in all of them, nonstop pummeling you with an endless, repetitive stream of circus-y riffs in strange dotted note patterns which grow quickly predictable. Nearly unilaterally, the riff transitions are stitched together like a haphazard tent by blinded boy scouts who tore their eyes and ears out after hearing this abomination. And yet, these horrid riffs are by far the album’s greatest strength, especially as very occasionally they have a semblance of a good idea with a guitar trill or a novel chugging section. That aggravating guitar playing is Molmolti Volti’s highlight doesn’t bode well for the rest. The most aggravating aspect of Frore 5 Four’s awful album may be the false endings—several songs finish before you look at the time stamp and realize that it was an evil prank and you’re subjected to three more minutes of the torture. There is a single moment of traditionally “good” songwriting across all of Molmolti Volti, the symphonic buildup near the end of “Ga-Noir Woltzin” where the track really appears as if it’s gonna go somewhere… it doesn’t. Frore 5 Four takes their single half-decent buildup and ENDS IT ON A FADEOUT. WHAT ON EARTH. I’d rather jump through a flaming hoop with a lion chasing me than listen to this album again.

Equally as annoying are the horrible timbre choices across the album, including but not limited to (intentionally?) out-of-tune instruments (“Dunvo Fahtus”), synthesized trumpets and accordions (“Rickypat Scumjoul” and “Ga-Noir Woltzin”), the beachiness of the fake flutes (“Dimpledew Humathumb”), and just generally awful, in-your-face guitar and synth choices exacerbated by a loud production with a super low dynamic range (everywhere). While normally an album like this would have eclectic vocals I would complain extra about, Frore 5 Four is instrumental, and that’s worse in this case. There is nothing to distract me from the fact I’m listening to an hour of poorly-produced instrumental circus music, no proof there’s an entity on the other side of the project sharing my humanity—for all I know, this is what actual hell sounds like, and I do know that Molmolti Volti is what my personal hell sounds like. But I digress, Molmolti Volti is crying out for Ross Jennings’s (Haken) unique timbre. He’d thrive in this hellscape and possibly fit in better here than in Haken (boom roasted!). 

I’d love to lay into the absolute clown(s?) behind this project a little bit more, but I’m speechless and sitting here with a headache CRAVING to get back to Disillusion, some real prog; moreover, Molmolti Volti doesn’t even contain all that much worth critiquing. Except for a couple different synthesized instruments on some tracks, the entire album unfolds in exactly the same way, each track making me want to move further and further away from civilization. If you can tolerate this circus-sounding car crash—imagine an ice cream truck colliding with a brick wall at a hundred miles per hour—good for you: I’ll be ogling at you as the prominent performer at the freakshow.

Recommended tracks: Disgraces!
You may also like: Pensées Nocturnes, Le Grand Guignol, New Obsessions, Void of Nothingness
Final verdict: 2/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Metal-Archives page

Label: independent

Frore 5 Four is:
?