“Hiraeth” is the forth full-length album of Ukrainian doom-metal one-man band. Led by multi-instrumentalist and mastermind behind the project – Max Molodtsov, SORROWFULL LAND has been bringing doomy passages since 2014. The new effort offers deep sounding melancholic yet dark tunes filled with tasty riffs, catchy melodies, roaring bass and thunderous drums. The themes are leaning towards philosophical approach to thoughts and feelings that are spinning in one’s mind. What will you do when you realize that you can’t get back in time to fix the damage you’ve done? Would you choose to live a life as a slave or fight fiercefully against all odds? Will the sorrow fill your soul and heart instantly when you’re not home anymore? Do you feel the flow of time as it’s passing by? Are you a silent observer of tragic moments? Does your faith in Heavenly Grace still fulfill you?

The album has seven songs, and “The Day is Past and Gone” is first. It’s slow, weighted, and somber, as one might expect for the genre. The lead breaks weep, and the guttural vocals rumble. The vocal whispers bring a different sound with them, perhaps a brief reprieve of the pain. “Unreachable” begins with clean guitar tones and segues into another desperate and despondent sound. Think of the title…something that is unreachable for you is something that is just taken off the table for you in life…think how that might make you feel, and this song plays. “Dark Trinity” has a little more energy in the pace, but the deep guttural leave no doubt what you are listening to. The clean vocals seem to cry out, as to unfair the world is, but the gutturals reflect anger.

“Astray” means into error or morally questionable behavior. When someone you love takes this path, it can cause you a lot of pain, and that’s what the song reflects for me. “In Times of Endless Nights” is another dreadful affair, and the band prefers to let this all hang out, not cloaking any of it for the weak at heart. The gutturals are so sharp, they tear into your flesh and rotten it from the inside out. “The Silent Slumber” sounds like an old Giant coming awake after hibernating for the past few centuries, and seeing the state of the once up and coming world reduced. The gutturals reflect his deep anger with what he sees…forests stripped, and farmlands sold. The title track is the final offering, also the longest. It translates in English to “deep longing for something, especially one's home.” This is exactly what the song reflects.

Overall, this was a dreadfully delicious album within the Doom/Death Metal genre that old fans will love, and delightful to new fans such as myself, and consider that it was all created by one person…just outstanding. The feeling of doom and death you get on the album sinks deep, and once it has taken hold, there is no going back to the life you had before. Poetic justice, maybe?