LUTHARO hailing from Hamilton, Ontario were formed in 2013. They started initially as INCAMADINE and they are a melodic Metal band and incorporate elements from Power Metal to Thrash Metal. They have been touring intensively and sharing the stages with bands like UNLEASH THE ARCHERS, THE AGONIST, and NERVOSA. After releasing three EPs, "Hiraeth" is their debut full-length album. It was recorded and mixed by Tyler Williams at Canadian Monolithic Productions and mastered by Lasse Lammert at German LSD Studios. All orchestral arrangements were done by Elliot Vernon. "Hiraeth" is an independent release and has a length of about 47 minutes.

It has been quite a journey to finally release a full-length album for LUTHARO, but all good things take their while. The word "Hiraeth" is Welsh and means sadness over the lost in a sense as longing or nostalgia. The album itself is a mixed bag of styles which varies from song to song or sometimes even within songs. After the intro "Introspection I" that includes some beside the epic guitar melodies some orchestral elements, it starts really frantic with "To Kill Or To Crave" at breakneck speed with fast and aggressive guitar riffing, lo of double-bass drumming and growling vocals that are at the higher end of the guttural range. The song incorporates several different styles: what appears to be a classical melodeath track changes quickly to include typical Power Metal elements. The vocals switch between the high pitched growls and clean vocals and the tempo also changes frequently between high pace and mid-tempo sequences. The song structure is not straight forward, the different styles include some complexity and both guitarists take full advantage of this and deliver great leads and solos.

"What Sleeps In Your Mind" comes with some orchestral support and has catchy melodies throughout. The tempo changes frequently from something faster than mid-tempo to highly paced sequences. The vocals offer again a mix between growls and clean with the growls predominantly associated at the highly paced sequences. The mid-tempo break offers some head-banging rhythms and a very comprehensive lead guitar solo. Both guitarists complement each other perfectly. "Phantom" and "Worship Your Path" include a few traditional Heavy Metal inspired melodies and the vocals are predominantly clean with occasional switch to growls. The guitarists do once again an awesome job on "Worship Your Path" with their lead guitars.

The tempo change continue in "Hopeless Abandonment" and "Valley Of The Cursed". "Hopeless Abandonment" has a nice and clean song structure where the galloping rhythm provides some strong moments. The sound of "Valley Of The Cursed" is a bit more melodeath oriented at the beginning including some blast-beat sequences. The orchestral background support is here a bit more dominant compared to the other tracks, especially during the chorus section. The track loses a bit the drive and aggressiveness during the chorus part and highlight is the lead guitar part.

I feel the vocals offer some potential for controversy: while the growls are outstanding and always fit to the melodies and rhythm, the clean vocals do often lack dynamics and the cutting edge. There were a few songs that could have been real highlights when the vocals would have been entirely growls and screams such as "In Silence We Reign" or "Eclipse". The album closes with the longest track "Lost In A Soul" which has an epic start and is in terms of rhythm, riffing, and melodies a great melodic Death Metal type of song. "Lost In A Soul" was released as video and the YouTube link is given below.

"Hiraeth" is a very good debut album. It comes with a lot of diversity and inspiration from different genres, and has its strengths in the melodies, the lead guitar solos and especially the way how both guitarists accompanying each other, and the growling part of the vocals. The song structures have often a high level of complexity which is evidence for good songwriting. The overall sound of "Hiraeth" is unique and shows LUTHARO's own character as a band. "Hiraeth" is very well produced. LUTHARO have shown their great potential with "Hiraeth" and fans of melodic Metal, melodic Death Metal, and Power Metal should not miss out on this album.