WORDS OF FAREWELL – Stories To Forget

RELEASE YEAR: 2024

BAND URL: https://www.wordsoffarewell.com/

Sometimes it’s interesting to watch a band evolve from a genre typical act through being a lot of things at once with mixed results to, finally, come full circle and come up with something hard to define. A good example is German progressive melodic death metal sextet, Words Of Farewell, whose 3rd EP in 4 years (and 4th, overall) and after 3 full lengths, Stories To Forget²⁰²⁴, was independently released on March 29th, an excellent record which bodes very well for whenever they decide to record the 4th full length.

Words of Farewell was founded in 2006 by Nicolas Alexander “Alex” Otto (bass-2009), lead vocals), Erik “EG” Gaßmus (lead guitars, backing vocals), Leo Wichmann (keyboards), Nils Urginus (rhythm guitars-2009), Felix “Flixx” Greiff (drums-2009) and Phillipp “Vyl” Olivier (lead guitars-2011, bass-2007), of whom Otto, Gaßmus and Wichmann remain to date, and then debuted their brand of Scar Symmetrical Dark Tranquillitian Insomnic Omnium Gatherum melodic progressive death metal with an independent EP. Ashes Of The Coming Dawn²⁰¹⁷ was a promising and creative record but mired in “garage days” production (although “Shuteye Symphony” is a phenomenal song I wish they’d release remastered someday) while the excellent From Now On²⁰⁰⁹ demo had a much better production, apparently so good AFM Records picked them up for (so far) 3 full lengths. Their debut full length I vaguely remember reviewing before I started in ET, Immersion²⁰¹², was, too, excellent but I found Black Wild Yonder²⁰¹⁴ a bit too progressive, certainly a good record but a step down in songwriting. I agree with Matt Coe in his review of A Quiet World²⁰¹⁶ that it was a good album but I disagree that it was their best, the debut still towering above both follow-ups, in my view. The Inner Universe²⁰²⁰ was a step toward tighter songwriting but still plagued by too much progression to the detriment of memorability, however Inner Universe II²⁰²¹ had a much more focus on catchiness and melody (The Midnight Star!, Born Of Sleep), emphasizing cleans and was a great prelude to the genius of “Stories To Forget”, which, Words Of Farewell recorded as Otto, Gaßmus and Wichmann joined by Konstantin Voßhoff (bass), Tristan Wegner (2013-drums) and Robin “Rob”Dirks (2014-guitars).

From the first keyboard note, one can hear the influence of 2007-2013 Dark Tranquillity, especially Fiction²⁰⁰⁷. The opener, “A Lesser King” recalls a similar intro in “Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive)” with (here) a tale of “once a broken man” who “asked for forgiveness for all of his failings” who found out that “never does the world pardon those who reveal their weakness”, a track also reminiscent of Evergrey and Scar Symmetry and I like how the catchy chorus is sped up in its second verse and how there are starts and stops, changes of pace and intensity but with smart repetition and balance allowing for maximum memorability, cutting all that fat and noise that plagued the recent full length. The excellence is equaled in the title track with keys similar to Katatonia’s “The Longest Year” and a chorus recalling Linkin’ Park but, of course, a lot heavier and deadlier, and an excellent solo, a cut which emphasizes the huge powerful production by Sebastian Sendon reminiscent of some metalcore acts such as Annisokay where the guitars sound like they had 7 strings and mostly the last two were use for the rhythm. It turns out, though, that the best songs are yet to come as the last three are absolutely perfect. “Parting Ways” where “devoid of strength we may have felt remorse but never truly learned from all our mistakes”, instantly brought one of my favorite albums to mind, Insomnium’s Across The Dark²⁰⁰⁹, for the luscious melodies but with modern In Flames aspects, fast definitely melodeath recalling Dark Tranquillity, main riff and chorus Omnium Gatherum’s “In The Rim”, and with a very loud “pumping” bass, easily my favorite, while “Mono No Aware” utilizes tasteful acoustic intro breaks and outro for progression finally done without diluting the power, again, very Insomniumic.

Now, I had expected the closer, “This Mirage My Likeness” to be in the same vein but was pleasantly surprised with the keys melody, piano and acoustic almost jazzy start cuing something between Omnium Gatherum’s gorgeous “Ophidian Sunrise” and some slower and more melodic Misery Signals, Otto’s parting words timeless truths regarding the human condition as we all, at one time or another, “need an act of providence to value” ourselves thereby instead forging “a guilty conscience…an infinite struggle for recognition, for satisfaction”, musically, another proof of how Words of Farewell have really grown as songwriters, now, finally, creating songs that invite repeated exposure and rewards that come therewith.