I enjoy good solid melodies with plenty of heavy guitar riffs and flowing but intricate lead breaks. Words of Farewell have those in spades. Opening track “Project Daybreak” isn’t terribly fast, but then it doesn’t need to be as there is so much happening that it would become messy were it to be at breakneck speed. Alexander Otto’s vocals are gruff Gothenburg death metal styled, along with being able to sing the clean vocals with ease.
The next track, “Ever After”, has a rapid pace increase where Jonas Wübbe’s drums are beaten soundly at high speed, but give Erik Gaßmus and Henrik Tschierschky enough breathing room for their guitars to trade off each other and play melodies and complex riffs without being driven to becoming a fuzzy noise.
Leo Wichmann’s keyboards on “End Of Transmission” complement the guitars in speed and technical ability by accompanying the leads with precision and adding an extra layer of harmony to the song.
“On Second Thought” is much faster and so are its leads, which are played with a far more grandiose virtuoso gusto reminiscent of prog power metal which also explains the keyboard lead for that matter.
The instrumental “Auriga” is a very ambient laid back keyboard intro to “The Great Escape” where it stays as a background melody throughout. The song also works from speed to slow breakdowns and back, and then fades out with a very mellow outro.
Nils Urginus’s bass can be heard keeping time with the drums during “Urban Panorama”, where the vocals are sung at half-time, keeping them heavy and unhurried by the blistering pace.
The full guitar sound and choppy riffs on “Sorae” work as a great accompaniment to the staccato vocals belted out by Otto.
The ballad-like quality of “Vagrant Story”, as in a tale not soppy love song, allows it to flow along nicely, as do the matching keyboard and guitar lead melodies meandering side by side.
There are even shades of Amorphis in “Sundown Serenade”, or that could just be the fluty organ sound to the keyboards giving it that airy feel of open spaces at the end of the day.
If you like bands like Dark Tranquillity, then you should enjoy this immensely, as they have a similar style with their heavy melodic approach.
(6/10, Marco Gaminara)
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