ALBUM REVIEW: Solitary – Hiraes

On their debut release Solitary, Germany’s HIRAES present their form of melodic death metal in all of its glory. Combining the members of DAWN OF DISEASE with vocalist Britta Görtz [CRITICAL MESS, ex-CRIPPER], their first project sees them team up with Napalm Records. The record serves as a great balancing act, finding the right amount of space and freedom for its melodies to soar without sacrificing too much of its death elements. 

When it comes to the melodic side of HIRAES, the guitars separate themselves from the pack. Dual lead duties are performed by Lukas Kerk and Oliver Kirchner, setting the tone for this album’s runtime. Their guitar melodies draw from the IRON MAIDEN school of guitars that you can sing along to whilst massively increasing the character and stakes of each track. Along with Görtz’s vocal performance, this adds a lot of hooks into the melodic death formula. Most importantly, the balance here isn’t too heavily on one side. There are plenty of shining melodic moments with the leads but it never feels too self-indulgent. They know when to come to the forefront and when to get in line with the drums and charge full speed ahead.

That being said, some of the heavier moments on the record could be upped a little in terms of their impact. That’s not to say that there aren’t moments where both sides of the HIRAES can fully deliver, the more death-infused sections simply could’ve hit a bit harder and provided more contrast with the melodic tendencies. The second half of the record suffers from this more than the opening five tracks, where some added impact would keep the momentum going strong. Instead, this dips a little bit in the last several tracks, though it’s not a big negative as it’s mostly down to the record’s very strong opening half just outshining it.

This isn’t enough to heavily weigh down the album’s finest moments, consistency across the board is not an issue here. The album’s pacing does slow down a bit around track six but once again, this is only because the first half feels so urgent and dramatic in scale. Whilst managing to balance the melodic and death elements of their sound, HIRAES‘ debut also manages to bring you right into their world. With a strong foundation behind it, the band’s melodic elements can rise all the way to the top with their vocal hooks and catchy guitar leads. Doing this without sacrificing too much of that death metal foundation gives this album a lot of character and scale, an impressive feat for a debut record.

Rating: 8/10

Solidarity is set for release on June 25th via Napalm Records.

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