One of the best releases of 2021 was Lutharö’s “Hiraeth,” an album whose chemistry blowed up my mind with a combination of striking killer songs and fantastic melodies. I have to admit I got very anxious when I received the email with Lutharö’s following album “Chasing Euphoria,” which I expected to be as good as it’s predecessor.
Well, first of all, I had to listen to “Hiraeth” again just to check if I was listening to the right band because at first “Chasing Euphoria” sounded a bit dissimilar from the aforementioned. Things changed a bit from one album to another. My feeling is that all the rage and wrath were a little bit tamed. Cadences are slower, there are no more those insane speed-of-the-light songs as before. There are more clean female vocals and less gutural ones – by the way, vocalist Krista Shipperbottom does both. Unfortunately, I was unable to hear the cacophony I heard back then which was the album’s spice.
Ok, maybe I was spoiled by the music I heard with “Hiraeth” and that’s a fact. It happens all the time. First impressions are the ones that live forever. There’s no way of denying it. So, the burning question is if “Chasing Euphoria” keeps the faith. I guess it does. There are some wondrous moments as in grand finale “Freedom of the Night,” a track that maybe sums up all the album. The best things of Lutharö are here. All the vocal duets, all the instrumental shifts. Things is that intro “Gates of Enchantment” kind of freaked me out with the pompous and grand orchestrations sounding from a terror movie. It was Krista’s voice in “Reaper’s Call” that put everything under control and I got more satisfied. The girl’s throat does lots of damages here, if you ask me. My gut says that Lutharö decided to give her voice more attention in this album. It seems to me the band chose to explore the versatility of her voice. Well, that was wise, if you ask me. On the other hand, in “Ruthless Bloodline” her voice gets too versatil to me giving the song some pop nuances.
Alright, despite all the changes “Chasing Euphoria” keeps the faith. It’s an album that will still surprise the fan.
Lutharö “Chasing Euphoria” was released on March 15th via Atomic Fire Records.
Track Listing:
- Gates of Enchantment
- Reaper’s Call
- Ruthless Bloodline
- Time to Rise
- Born to Ride
- Bonded to the Blade
- Chasing Euphoria
- Creating a King
- Strong Enough to Fall
- Paradise or Parasite
- Freedom of the Night
Watch “Chasing Euphoria” official music video here:
1940
