EP REVIEW: Stories To Forget – Words Of Farewell

Melodic death metal is a genre that feels like a recently woken giant at the moment. Not at the full strength of yore, in recent years bands such as ORBIT CULTURE and UPON STONE have looked to breathe new life into the scene to try and restore it to its past glory. WORDS OF FAREWELL are not a new band by any means, having been around since the 00s, but have struggled to break through the same as others. This hasn’t been down to a lack of quality however, as their work has been compared to legends of the genre such as SCAR SYMMETRY and DARK TRANQUILITY.

Their last EP, released perhaps rather unfortunately in March 2020, saw the band bring some metalcore influences into their sound, but don’t let that scare you. The result was a modern, more accessible brand of melodeath that benefitted from a more modern production style. This is the follow-up, with Sebastian Stendon (BLEED FROM WITHIN, PERIPHERY) behind the desk to try to take the band to new heights.

The result, Stories To Forget, is five tracks of solid and dependable modern melodeath. The standout performance of the record is the vocals by a longshot. Harking back to the golden Gothenberg days of yore, Alexander Otto sounds massive, growling out some pretty addictive hooks while maintaining a good level of enunciation. The first track A Lesser King sums up the band’s sound perfectly: galloping riffs, powerful vocals mixed with an emotive guitar solo and some classic DARK TRANQUILITY atmospherics to break things up.

Knowing their following and where their bread is buttered, the title track sounds like it was written to get the crowd going absolutely bananas across Europe. From the fist in the air solo to the interplay between Otto and lead guitarist Erik, it ticks all of the boxes and will likely be in the band’s setlist for years to come as they look to delight crowds in the middle of the afternoon all over the continent.

Unfortunately that need – that almost intrinsic desire to get those dependable slots – results in parts of this EP feeling a little safe. It doesn’t go as big or take as many risks as the aforementioned ORBIT CULTURE, nor does it aim to break any relative new ground. You could be forgiven for thinking that this could have came out at anytime in the last few years as bar the production, very little of this sounds fresh. Yes, it’s fun and you’ll probably have an enjoyable time with it if this type of thing is your bag, but apart from maybe one or two tracks, nothing will stick with you.

Their previous works have shown promise, but ultimately there’s a reason that bands like UPON STONE have received glowing praise and much more focus, despite being newer. WORDS OF FAREWELL exist to be a band that people like, that people will be happy to see support much more beloved bands, because they’ll guarantee a good time and you’ll throw some horns, air guitar a little before you forget it ever happened a few days later.

There’s nothing wrong with this band. They’re good, they’re solid and they might have a breakout record in there somewhere. It’s just not this one and sadly they won’t be a part of the conversation when it comes to the best of modern day melodic death metal.

Rating: 5/10

Stories To Forget is out now via Seek & Strike.

Like WORDS OF FAREWELL on Facebook.