Review by Krys on July 30, 2002.

Advertised as “a unique blend of Thrash, Epic and Symphonic Black Metal” Apotheosis is a one-member band that was born from a fascination of ambient, electronic music and the atmosphere of early ‘90’s black metal. Sauron’s debut album “Farthest From the Sun” is a collection of just 4 tracks (from which two are reworked promo songs) but clocking in at almost 51 minutes.

Opener ‘Victory’ is a 6-minute-plus computer orchestrated tune based on simple, not to say primitive, samples running in loops. Amazingly it creates quite a pleasant atmosphere before ‘The Maimed God’ that strikes with blast beats and typical blackish screams. ‘Raise the Dragon Banner’ influenced by the old thrash school incorporates piano loops, ‘cosmic’ computer effects and a pleasing but elementary guitar lead. The album closes with the epic ‘Kingdom’ which is over sixteen minutes. Like previous efforts, this track combines many music styles and showcases Sauron’s already impressive arrangement talents but lacks anything that could make it stand out in the crowd.

My biggest problem with “Farthest From the Sun” is musicianship. While I can appreciate the effort of trying to complete an album on your own there’s no way under the sun that one man can be efficient in all instruments and represent the same high quality skill level on each one of them. Because of that, the whole album, while full of good ideas, sounds amateurish and shows a deficiency in the skill department on the ‘real’ recorded instruments, not to mention that most of them were done by computer to start with. Apotheosis’ “Farthest From the Sun” is an interesting collection of songs based on computer samples and effects incorporating essential elements of many metal styles, but only with improved instrumental skills the future releases might become something more than one more fish in the sea.

Bottom Line: “Farthest From the Sun” is not an album that requires your full attention to grasp every detail, it’s more like a Sunday movie, after long night of partying when you want to relax and have some fun without forcing your brain cells to unnecessary work. Primitive but enjoyable.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 5
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 7
Originality: 6
Overall: 6

Rating: 6.2 out of 10