Farce: Sights of War 7"

Sights of War is the fourth studio album by Finnish band FARCE, on their third release for SISTEMA MORTAL after the Unspeakable Tragedies EP and the split with Vida Muerta, Funeral Earth.
Sights of War immediately shows itself as a stroke in the face to the 20th century, and to what that era has dragged with it - before dissolving into what we are living through today. The band sound is more than devastated; the record is short as life is; the lyrics are merciless. And it seems easy today to talk about war, wars, massacres and power, since we are engulfed in all of this, so close that we do not see it. It almost seems obvious, even more for a band that plays d-beat - a genre that has made anti-militarism one of its main banners. But until a few years ago we almost thought that there was no more need for the continuity of this instance, as it was a terrible black-and-white memory. Every minute that passes instead makes us realise how feeble that analysis was, and how it was destined to be overturned.
From here one can understand the topicality of a release like Sights of War. We will, however, avoid mentioning the various Gaza, Kabul, Taipei, Kiev (among the endless others); we will not mention the geopolitical chessboard and the old and new imperialisms that accompany it, along with the new modes of colonisation. Continuing to denounce such violence will perhaps not materially stop it, but it’s the proof (and can amplify it) that the oppressed are on the right side of history. Behind the bombings, in transparency with fatal death, we can see the suffering of all those trapped in this yoke, completely opaque, distorted, asymmetrical, forgotten by justice; and the ones that among us passively accept the horrors of the real make the world even more frightening - while we still face the blinding indifference.

Our take: Sights of War is the latest EP from this Finnish band, and while they’ve released a few cassettes and digital releases over the past few years, this is the first time I’ve given them a close listen. When you drop the needle on Sights of War, you’ll think to yourself, “this is some top-notch Disclose worship,” but as you dig in further, you’ll find there’s a lot more to Farce than most bands who emulate this style. First (and like any band in this vein who wants to move from “just OK” to “really good”), they seem to have taken a lot of time with the tones they got on this recording. Sounding really fucked up is a fine art, and Farce are Picassos, hurling an artillery barrage of frequencies that slice, bruise, pummel, and burn, often all at the same time, and listening to Sights of War can feel a bit like being trapped inside a broken down lawn mower. While Farce hews closely enough to the Disclose template that they never sound out of the box, they’re great at injecting unexpected wrinkles like the delightfully odd lead guitars in “Shelling of Trenches” and “Killing for Fairytale.” It all adds up to an 8-track 7” that delivers everything you want from this style while being interesting enough to stand out from the many other similar records on your shelf.