WL//WH Video Of The Day: DISTANT STARES “Epitaph”

Video Of The Day DISTANT STARES

Started in 2022 as the solo project of former extreme metal guitarist turned Gothic Rock singer and songwriter Lassi from Finland, Distant Stares returns to WL//WH with “Epitaph”, the first excerpt from the band’s forthcoming 9-track album, “Separated For Life”, scheduled for release on January 2, 2026.

In my view, gothic rock can still serve as an emotional and atmospheric channel of expression—without the corny or over-the-top elements, without the shallow distractions that only blur the fire within. The vision then—and still today—has been to weave themes like loneliness, anxiety, and the feeling of oppression into something beautiful and romantic.Lassi says

The song is a dive into the past, into a tragic relationship that caused severe mental and some physical damage. As with many difficult experiences in life, my subconscious has a way of pouring these things out through writing and melody. This is one of those raw cases where one must metaphorically bury the other person alive, along with the relationship itself, to move on, to live, to survive. That’s why it was dubbed “Epitaph,” a kind of nuclear waste disposal.

“Epitaph” pulls hypnotic, gloomy and stumbling drum beats and doomy throbbing bass tones, swept by whirling layers of sad, glaring synth swathes, to build a relentless sombre, mournful emptiness, engraved by sorrowing, rippling guitar melodies, while empty, lonely baritone vocals, shifting to vulnerable forlornness during a haunting interlude, remain fearfully trapped in a one-sided relationship built on deception and conditional love.

Distant Stares performs under strobes and shadows while a series of intimate handwritten notes gives deeper insight into the turmoil of the soundtrack. A thoughtful use of elevation and descension, illumination and darkness, depth and dullness brings forth a deep sense of sadness, suffering and longing at the hands of loss and disconnection. Be sure to stick around until the end of the clip for the symbolic last scene, where the singer sits alone in a basement with his shadow and writes the final message, “Epitaph.”