Introducing: Worth

In our near-seven years of promoting new bands through GigRadar, one country we’ve been strangely lacking new rock and metal from is Spain. Indeed, Barcelona-based melodic death metal band Worth is only the sixth Spanish band we’ve covered and the first since March 2021 – but it’s been well worth the wait (pardon the pun).

Worth started out as a mess of a project that, for long periods, nobody committed to or fought for. It was largely sustained through a few lineup changes by guitarist Gloria Falgueras and vocalist Cri Jill before they brought on board bassist Francesca Missori, who’d never even listened to metal before let alone played in a melodic death metal band.

However, she quickly learned to love the music and the project, and even coined the phrase “happy metal.” They released their debut album The Essence Of Life in 2018 and played at various metal festivals including Metal Battle Spain, two weeks before which they lost their drummer without any explanation. They drafted in Stevie Gamester, who quickly connected with the band, then lost rhythm guitarist Marta, so they stuck with the current four-member lineup.

As they explain: “It was hard for us to have new people all the time and that was the moment to focus on the second album, we needed to focus on music and not on people. We are friends and like a family, so that was enough.”

And on the sound they’ve honed since, they explain: “It’s melodic death metal with influences of doom on some songs and a very strong rhythmic foundation. We wanted to focus on the power of the rhythm guitar, bass and drums, although it’s very melodic, and the lead guitars and clean parts give that emotional vibe inherent to the genre. Vocals are exclusively very powerful growls.”

Worth released their second, self-titled album last month. And we caught up with them around the release of its excellent second single Chased. It opens up in ear-catching fashion with a lively lick and a dramatic smash of dark guitars and guttural vocals. A really cool guitar lick takes over, answered by fast-paced guitars and booming vocals in a huge chorus.

Second time around, the chorus drops into a laid-back lick that quickly picks up pace before the strangely alluring growls return. It suddenly drops into mellow guitars, before exploding into a vicious conclusion of wild guitars and drums.

On the track, they told us: “Chased is a song about war, that’s why there’s a difference between our two singles. It’s a song for those who love death metal, the fast riffs and blastbeats. You have to moshpit and you’ll really feel it hahaha. Chased has been very well received, mostly the difference between it and Vanished, and that’s good! They have reacted amazingly nicely to it!” Check out this awesome track in the lyric video:

Worth is packed with 14 tracks of melodic death goodness, on which the band says: “We are so excited that people will finally listen to months of work. We created a long album because there were many ideas that we couldn’t leave out.”

They particularly call out the album’s opener Time Won’t Heal, which they tell us “is the definition of what you’ll find in the album.” The track dives straight into a cool lick supported by guitar chords and heavy drums, which continue through a verse led by guttural vocals. The guitar lick takes over and feeds into a chorus of vicious vocals then ascending instrumentals drop into another smash of heavy vocals.

The pace suddenly drops with light guitars, which burst into heavy vocals and more of the melodic ascending instrumentals. The opening lick returns and develops into a cool little solo that continues alongside vicious vocals, before crushing drums lead a powerful outro.

For the headbangers among you, the band recommends checking out Nu Uita, Morning Blaze, which features a delicious instrumental section that builds to a dramatic conclusion, and Emptiness, which begins with a really cool fast-paced riff. And they promise a surprise or two with tracks like Frozen Echelon and the pretty intense Nova. While we especially like the very dramatic opening to the fourth track Cravings, which continues with chugging guitars supporting intense vocals before a wild section of massive blastbeats. Check it out in the stream below:

The album concludes with the dark and doomy but very much encapsulating To Light One’s Fire, which clocks in at the longest track of what the band call “a long but emotional chapter.” Give it a listen here:

The Worth sound has been honed by shared influences like Be’lakor, Wintersun, Dark Tranquillity, Amorphis and Omnium Gatherum.

And on what inspires them to write music, they tell us: “Different kinds of things. Maybe a ride in the car, news which angers or sparks emotion in us, maybe just playing the instrument itself… We never had one specific way to create music, but we know that any song won’t be that good if we don’t work together.

“Lyrics also are different, there’s not one specific topic. Morning Blaze, for example, is a love story, Nu Uita is about being homesick and To Light One’s Fire is a self-improvement song. We also have dark lyrics like on Vanished, One Named Nightmare and Emptiness, which try to raise awareness about the fragility of life and the importance to live it as much as you can.”

There’s plenty more to come from Worth as they look to play their second album at gigs everywhere that they can. They also plan to record a new video to release at the start of next year.

And the band adds: We thank all the people who support us, without your kind words, your enjoyment of music and all the love we couldn’t make music. Also, thanks to the media for their amazing job, it’s difficult to make music if no one will echo your music as you guys do.”

You can follow Worth on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and YouTube. And check out more great new bands through their label WormHoleDeath Records.