Judging from their backstory, "Worth The Pain" looks like the perfect title for hard rock band LETTERS FROM THE FIRE debut album, published via Sand Hill Records. Coming from the San Francisco Bay area, back in 2007 guitarist Mike Keller founded Park Lane, along with Grayson Hurd (Lightworker). In 2012, with bassist Clayton Wages arrival, they would change their monicker into Letters from the Fire but they seemed to reach a stable lineup only in 2015, when they were joined former drummer Cameron Stucky (lead guitar). Only vocals saw changes, until singer Alexa Kabazie, through a demo handed by producer Kile Odell, joined the band in 2016 and in six weeks wrote all the materials for their LP debut, at last.

In the meantime they released a self-titled EP in 2014 (containing two singles, Zombies in the Sun and an Eleanor Rigby, which got some airtime) and toured with Fuel and Trapt. This 9-years journey cemented into a solid and well balanced work, in which every member knows his place, without stepping onto each other and playing in full synergy. This gives all the tracks the proper tension between the different sections: Alexa's voice is never smothered by Mike and Cameron heavy riffs and able to provide the proper emotional backbone to the expressivity of the lyrics, which permeate the album with a sense of feeling stuck in life, whilst sensing an internal willing for change growing inside. She's left wandering and showing off all the edges of her powerful vocal spectrum in the opening track "Perfect life", a tempo changing heavy track; rest of the band steps away and let her gleam in "Bruised", a ballad in which she gives one the finest proof of her vocal skills. Once again in "Scars" appears to be built around the extension of her voice, while the bass line builds up with her, making this one of the prime gems of the LP.

As her voice leads the way, guitars follow, giving depth to the melodies and weaving unexpected complexity into the songs: this is evident in "Mother Misery", a Gothic-laced song, whose melody and mood show a faint late-Katatonia influence, non-intentional maybe but still haunting the track. Guitar section is able to insert solos and lead breaks in a smart and apt way, like what happens following Kabazie dampen out voice in "Live a Lie". While lyrically less bound to the rest, "Give In to Me" is an interesting take on mixing metal with their sound, with pounding guitars and electronics, in their path of dodging a clear genre classification: while "My Angel" may sound pop-esque, the following "Last December" contrasts with its melodic metal structure, although electronic inserts in it may sound unnecessary; cinematic "At War" with its simple keyboard driven melody and powerful vocals just adds another notch on LFTF genre-belt. Titletrack "Worth the Pain" is not an exception to this, releasing the angry steam kept inside so far, with aggressive riffs and drums.

While never truly leaving the borders of power rock or alt metal, LFTF offer a solid debut performance with "Worth the Pain", being able to jump between genres and influences, never getting stuck but still leaving a personal footprint along all the tracks: with smart songwriting and multi-layers sound they also avoid the risk of being just a side dish to Alexa's voice main course. She surely is central to the project but not everything in their sound revolves around her and the release is a good example of balancing personal musical performances without blocking out any part of it, with a good production sticking all together at the best.